Sudan receives invitation to join U.S.-Egypt military exercises

Sudan has received an invitation to take part in a joint U.S.-Egyptian military training exercise this October in Egypt, a first for the country in almost thirty years according to the Sudanese Defense Ministry.
General Emad al-Din Adawi announced the invitation to join the Bright Star exercises that will take place in Egypt after he met this week with a U.S. State Department official according to the Ministry.
The Sudan had been earlier sanctioned by the U.S. for its human rights record as well as other issues. Former president Barack Obama temporarily lifted the sanctions now two decades old for six months in January. However in July, the Trump administration decided to postpone a decision whether to permanently end the trade embargo, freezing of assets and financial sanctions. The president Omar al-Bashir is wanted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court. In spite of this, he made a recent visit to Morocco.
The U.S. invitation would “open the door to more dialogue” that General Adawi claimed would return U.S. Sudan military relations to the right path. Even if sanctions etc. were permanently ended, Sudan would remain listed by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terrorism. The economy of Sudan has deteriorated since the secession of the south 2011 at three quarters of the oil output is from the former southern region of Sudan.