WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Foreign Relations, Judiciary, and Appropriations Committees, celebrates the inclusion of the Sudan Claims Resolution Act in the year-end spending package that Congress will vote on today. The historic legislation restores Sudan’s sovereign immunity, resolves longstanding terrorism-related claims against the country and provides accountability and compensation to hundreds of terror victims and family members, and protects the rights of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Passage of the Sudan Claims Resolution Act follows the removal of Sudan from the state sponsors of terrorism list, both critical steps to the full normalization of relations between the United States and Sudan and Sudan’s reentry into the international community. 

The spending package also includes over $900 million in economic assistance to Sudan to stabilize the economy and civilian-led democratic transition, support the Sudanese people, and provide urgently needed debt relief and restructuring.

“The passage of this bipartisan legislation will provide a small measure of justice to the families of the East Africa Embassy bombings who have devoted over two decades to their unwavering quest to seek accountability for the attacks that changed their lives forever on August 7, 1998,” said Senator Coons. “The legislation will also help Sudan – a country of 44 million people at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East – reenter the global economy after 27 years on the state sponsors of terrorism list, promote foreign investment and economic growth in the country, and support the civilian-led transition to democracy. I appreciate the commitment of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, namely Senators Schumer, Menendez, Feinstein, Graham, and Risch, to reach a bipartisan agreement on this historic legislation that protects the rights of all victims of terror while granting Sudan urgently needed relief. I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to further strengthen and deepen the U.S.-Sudan relationship.”

The Sudan Claims Resolution Act:

  • Implements the claims agreement negotiated between the U.S. State Department and the Government of Sudan for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, and the 2008 murder of John Granville. The agreement will provide justice, accountability, and compensation to over 700 hundred terror victims and family members. 
  • Restores Sudan’s sovereign immunity while protecting the rights of victims of the 9/11 community, which will allow Sudan to fully participate in the global economy without fear of asset seizure, foster foreign direct investment in the country, create jobs and economic growth to support the Sudanese people, and help stabilize Sudan’s civilian-led democratic transition following the country’s removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list after a peaceful revolution in 2019 to oust brutal dictator Omar al-Bashir.
  • Ensures naturalized U.S. citizens are compensated at the same rate as natural-born U.S. citizens involved in the attacks.
  • Extends the authorization of the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSSTF) for nine years through 2039 to allow all terror victims eligible for the USVSSTF to recover additional damages.

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