February 2, 2020(Khartoum)The United States on Sunday invited General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s sovereign council, to visit Washington, the council said, highlighting warmer bilateral ties since the army toppled President Omar al-Bashir last year.
U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who invited Burhan for the visit during a phone call, said in December that the two countries planned to begin exchanging ambassadors after a 23-year hiatus.
The purpose of the visit will be “to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and ways of developing them”, the council said in a statement, without giving a date for the trip but saying Burhan “promised to fulfill it soon”.
The US has said, from 21 Feb, it will ban nationals from Sudan from participating in the diversity visa lottery scheme.
The US embassy in Khartoum said in a series of tweets, on Friday night, that the decision does not affect other categories of immigration or non-immigrant visas, including those for tourism or study.
In 2017, the United States lifted the economic embargo on Sudan, but maintained the ban on global financial transfers, which experts say is one of the most important obstacles to the growth of the Sudanese economy.
Protests against the ousted regime leader Omar al-Bashir erupted in December 2018 due to increase in bread prices, and widened until he was ousted on April 11th.
Sudan is currently ruled by a sovereign council , comprised of civilian and military personnel for a transitional period that ends with elections which will transfer power to all civilians rule.