The White House on Friday tried to explain how the US government could label Sudan "a strong partner in the war on terror" and a state sponsor of terrorism -- in the same US State Department report.
The 2006 "Country Reports on Terrorism," made public April 30, lists Sudan along with North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Cuba as state sponsors of terrorism but singles out Khartoum for taking "significant steps" to fight extremism.
"The Sudanese government was a strong partner in the war on terror and aggressively pursued terrorist operations directly involving threats to US interests and personnel in Sudan," the report says.
Asked about the apparent discrepancy, White House spokesman Tony Fratto replied: "Look, the situation in Sudan is complicated."
"We need Sudan to take aggressive action on activity in its borders that could be supportive of terrorism. We also need Sudan to, as the president outlined in his speech at the Holocaust Museum a few weeks ago, to get serious about the situation in Darfur and the rebel groups in that country," he said.
His comments came as four members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that the apparent contradiction, as well as recent warnings from US President George W. Bush over violence in Darfur, "raise serious questions about competing policies and priorities."
The report on Sudan notes that "with the exception of Hamas, the Sudanese government did not openly support the presence of extremist elements in Sudan," and that it imposed curbs on visiting members of that extremist Palestinian group.
"The Sudanese government also worked to disrupt foreign fighters from using Sudan as a logistics base and transit point for jihadists going to Iraq," according to the report.
The report also noted "little tangible progress" in Khartoum's efforts to mediate peace between Uganda and the rebel Lords Resistance Army.
