The foreign relations of Sudan are generally in line with the Muslim Arab world, but are also based on Sudan's economic ties with the People's Republic of China and Russia.
Diplomatic relations List of countries which Sudan maintains diplomatic relations with: #CountryDate12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576— (suspended)77—78798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100—101102103104105106—107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158
Bilateral relations Africa CountryNotesSee Chad–Sudan relations On 23 December 2005 Chad, Sudan's neighbor to the west, declared a 'state of belligerency' with Sudan and accused the country of being the "common enemy of the nation (Chad)." This happened after the 18 December attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead. A statement issued by Chadian government on 23 December, accused Sudanese militias of making daily incursions into Chad, stealing cattle, killing innocent people and burning villages on the Chadian border. The statement went on to call for Chadians to form a patriotic front against Sudan. On 11 May 2008 Sudan announced it was cutting diplomatic relations with Chad, claiming that it was helping rebels in Darfur to attack the Sudanese capital KhartoumSee Egypt–Sudan relations Both countries established diplomatic relations on 4 January 1956 when first ambassador of Egypt to Sudan general Mahmoud Seif El-Yazal Khalifa presented his letters of credentials.
Egypt and Sudan have enjoyed intimate and longstanding historical ties, seeing as they are each other's closest allies in the North African region. The two countries are connected by various cultural ties and political aspirations. In the late 1970s, Sudan showed great solidarity with Egypt in its Camp David peace initiatives with Israel. In 2008, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif urged the two countries to focus on two specific projects: the Gezira Scheme which aims to cultivate some two million acres (8,000 km2) of land in Sudan, and a joint project to improve food security in agricultural and meat production.
Sudan asserts its claim to the Hala'ib Triangle, a barren area of 20,580 km2 under partial Sudanese administration that is defined by an administrative boundary which supersedes the treaty boundary of 1899.
Egypt's policy on Sudan is in favor of a united Sudan. As such Egypt was not directly involved in the Sudan Peace Process which was hosted in Kenya under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development that gave the peoples of south Sudan the right to secede and form an independent state in 2011 after the long and brutal Sudanese civil war that cumulatively lasted 22 years and claimed 2 million lives.Both countries established diplomatic relations on 27 June 1956 when accredited first Ambassador of Ethiopia to Sudan Mr. Ato Mellas M. Andom.
See Ethiopia–Sudan relations.
As of 2011, good relations between Sudan and Ethiopia continued in spite of Sudan's improved ties with Eritrea. President al-Bashir visited Addis Ababa twice in 2001. During a visit to Khartoum in 2002, Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, hailed Ethiopian–Sudanese ties. The two countries agreed to cancel entry visas and fees on traded commodities, and they stepped up plans to increase trade. Ethiopia began early in 2003 to import oil from Sudan. By 2009 Sudan supplied 80 percent of Ethiopia's demand for oil. The two nations signed an agreement ending a dispute involving their 1,600-kilometer border, and landlocked Ethiopia made plans to make greater use of Port Sudan as a transshipment point. Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen formed a regional group early in 2003 that they said was designed to "combat terrorism" in the Horn of Africa.
Bilateral relations among countries in the Horn of Africa tended to be fickle. However, Ethiopia and Sudan continued to make progress on settling border issues. The Ethiopian prime minister and Sudanese president inaugurated a major new road link between Ethiopia and Sudan at the end of 2007. There were frequent subsequent exchange visits by Ethiopian and Sudanese leaders. Ethiopia remained wary, however, of any effort by Sudan to return to a policy supporting Islamist militancy in the region. Although Ethiopia preferred a united Sudan, it shored up its relations with South Sudan on the assumption that it would opt for secession. Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea were periodic recipients of refugees from the other countries, another potential cause of friction. Agreement on usage of Nile water reemerged as an important issue between Addis Ababa and Khartoum, while Asmara supported the Sudanese position as another way to irritate Ethiopia.See Kenya–Sudan relations.See Libya–Sudan relations
Relations between Sudan and Libya deteriorated in the early 1970s and reached a low in October 1981, when Libya began a policy of crossborder raids into western Sudan. Following a 1985 coup, Sudan resumed diplomatic relations with Libya. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi ended his aid to the Christian and animist, southern-based, Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) led by Garang and welcomed the incoming government of General Suwar al Dahab. In July 1985, a military protocol was signed between the two countries, and Qaddafi was the first head of state to visit the new Khartoum government. Qaddafi then strongly supported Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al Mahdi, who became prime minister on 6 May 1986. However, Mahdi soon turned against Gaddafi by declaring Sudan a neutral state in both regional and global conflicts and ordered Libyan troops to leave the country.
After Mahdi was overthrown in a 1989 coup d'état, the military government of Omar Al-Bashir resumed diplomatic relations with Libya, as part of a policy of improving relations with neighboring Arab states. In early 1990, Libya and the Sudan announced that they would seek "unity". This unity was never implemented and Sudanese forces ultimately participated in the military intervention that overthrew Qaddafi by securing Kufra.Sudan, under the National Islamic Font government became one of the very few states in the world that recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.See South Sudan–Sudan relations
Official diplomatic relations commenced on the day of South Sudan independence when Sudan became the first state to recognise South Sudanese independence. Although cultural and economic relations predate independence and even the civil war between the two entities.
Americas CountryNotesSee Sudan–United States relations Both countries established diplomatic relations on 15 February 1956
On 3 November 1997, the U.S. government imposed a trade embargo against Sudan and a total asset freeze against the Government of Sudan under Executive Order 13067. The U.S. believed the Government of Sudan gave support to international terrorism, destabilized neighboring governments, and permitted human rights violations, creating an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.U.S. Treasury - Sudan sanctions
On 3 June 2008, US - Sudan normalization talks broke down over the issue of conflicts in the oil-producing central region of Abyei.
On 17 February 2015 the U.S. government issued a general license to amend US Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions on Sudan. The general license authorizes the exportation and re-exportation to Sudan of "certain software, hardware and services incident to personal communications over the Internet."
In mid-January 2017, the United States lifted economic and trade sanctions on Sudan due to the Sudanese government's cooperation in fighting terrorism, reducing conflict, and denying safe havens to South Sudanese rebels. On 16 March 2017, the Trump Administration resumed military relations following the exchange of military attaches. In the following months, the United States Government removed Sudan from the list of Muslim-majority countries on the American travel ban and lifted all 1997 sanctions on Sudan after the Sudanese Government severed relations with North Korea. In addition, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which supported the lifting of sanctions, established an office in Khartoum.
Following the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état, the new Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok entered into talks with US officials in September 2019, seeking the removal of Sudan from the US state sponsor of terrorism list. In December 2019, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States and Sudan would begin exchanging ambassadors after a 23-year period of no diplomatic relations. In October 2020, US President Donald Trump announced that he would remove Sudan from the US state sponsor of terrorism list in return for Sudan paying US$355 million in compensation to American victims of terrorism and their families. In addition, Sudan also established diplomatic relations with Israel with US support.
Asia CountryNotesSee China–Sudan relations Both countries established diplomatic relations on 4 February 1959.
China is Sudan's biggest trade partner. China imports oil, from Sudan, and Sudan imports low cost items as well as armaments from China. China and Sudan enjoy a very robust and productive relationship in the fields of diplomacy, economic trade, and political strategic. The two nations established diplomatic relations on 4 January 1959 and have since become strongly close global allies. Education also has close ties, as Sudanese students go to China to learn Chinese, and Chinese students go to Sudan to learn Arabic.See Iran-Sudan relations Relations between Sudan and Iran have long been cordial due to their opposition to Israel and extensive trade and diplomatic services existed between the two nations. In January 2016, Sudan severed relations with Iran, choosing instead to align itself with Saudi Arabia's isolation of Tehran.Sudan has an embassy in Baghdad and Iraq's embassy is in Khartoum.
During the war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s, Sudan maintained a careful balancing act, calling for a cessation of hostilities but sympathizing with Iraq. Sudan on several occasions offered to mediate the conflict. By 1988, Sudan called for an end to the war on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 598. Sudan supported Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, leading to a period of close relations with Baghdad. Iraq was believed to have supplied weapons to Sudan and in the mid-1990s agreed to help Sudan exploit its oil wealth. Although Sudan was trying to improve relations with the United States after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it remained critical of the subsequent American-led invasion of Iraq. Following the overthrow of the Ba'athist regime, however, Sudan's position on Iraq became more nuanced. On the one hand, it was quick to criticize the United States, which harshly condemned Sudan's record on human rights, for its double standard in dealing with prisoners in Iraq. It also advised Sudanese not to work with U.S. contractors in the country. By late 2004, however, Sudan's relations with the new Iraqi government had improved to the point that Iraq's foreign minister visited Khartoum and met with al-Bashir. Subsequently, Sudan generally avoided commenting on Iraq.See Israel–Sudan relations