Sudan says near settlement with US for 1998 embassy bombings

KHARTOUM: Sudan is close to finalising a deal with the United States to compensate the victims of 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, Foreign Minister Asma Abdalla said Tuesday.

"The final touches of a settlement with victims of embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are being finalised," Abdalla told AFP in an interview. "We now have a delegation in Washington negotiating with the victims´ lawyers and officials at the US Department of State."

The twin bombings took place in August 1998 when a massive blast hit the US embassy in downtown Nairobi, shortly followed by an explosion in Dar es Salaam. The attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda killed a total of 224 people and injured around 5,000 -- almost all of them Africans. The US has accused Sudan of aiding militants linked to the jihadist bombings and demanded compensation for victims´ families.

Sudan has since August been led by a transitional administration following the military ouster of president Omar al-Bashir in the wake of mass protests against his rule. Under Bashir´s 30-year rule, the country adopted a more radical course of Islam, hosting Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden between 1992 and 1996. This strained ties with the US, which blacklisted Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism.