Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 - Sudan

During the past year, the Sudanese government continued to cooperate in the War on Terror, pursuing terrorist operations directly involving threats to U.S. interests and personnel in Sudan. While the U.S.-Sudanese counterterrorism relationship remained solid, hard-line Sudanese officials continued to express resentment and distrust over actions by the USG and questioned the benefits of continued cooperation. Their assessment reflected disappointment that Sudan's counterterrorism cooperation has not warranted rescission of its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

AQ-inspired terrorist elements, elements of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), HAMAS, and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), remained in Sudan. In light of the ongoing hybrid United Nations-African Union deployment to Darfur, various terrorist threats against these forces emerged, and AQ leadership has called for jihad against UN forces in Darfur. Further, Sudanese authorities uncovered and largely dismantled a large-scale terrorist organization targeting western interests in Khartoum in summer and fall of the year. The terrorist threat level remained high in Khartoum and Darfur, and potentially other parts of Sudan.

With the exception of HAMAS, the Sudanese government does not appear to openly support the presence of terrorist groups in Sudan. The Sudanese government has taken steps to limit the activities of these organizations. As an example, Sudanese officials have welcomed HAMAS members as representatives of the Palestinian Authority (PA), but have limited their activities to fundraising. The Sudanese government has also worked hard to disrupt foreign fighters from using Sudan as a logistics base and transit point for extremists going to Iraq.

The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, continued to operate from its base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and threatened the tri-border area (DRC, Sudan, and Uganda). The Government of Southern Sudan worked to mediate peace between the LRA and neighboring countries and has vowed to eliminate the presence of the LRA as an organization in Southern Sudan. The Sudanese People's Liberation Army made some progress in containing LRA activity. Negotiations between the LRA and the Ugandan People's Defense Forces (UPDF) continued, with occasional interruptions in Juba under the mediation of the Government of Southern Sudan.