Sudan has made a surprise opening and said it will fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court on cases about Darfur.
International donors are holding back, demanding more transparency on public and military spending, an economic reform plan, and the lifting of fuel subsidies.
Potential donors from the West and the Gulf have met several times, but they have postponed from April to June a “Friends of Sudan” economic conference where pledges could be made.
The United States has signaled that Sudan could be removed from a list of countries seen as state sponsors of terrorism, but has given no time-frame.
Being on the list complicates efforts to negotiate a deal for Sudan’s foreign debt, unblock funding from international lenders and connect Sudan to international banking systems.
The finance minister said in November that the government needed up to $5 billion to avert economic collapse. Since then, officials have been struggling to contain worsening fuel and bread shortages linked to a scarcity of dollars and smuggling of subsidized goods, despite some aid from the Gulf.
The government faces internal opposition over economic reforms. Ministers have retreated from any major steps on subsidies until after an economic conference in late March with the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), a fractured grouping of political movements that backed the uprising and negotiated the power-sharing deal.
For this year’s budget, officials announced a contribution of $2 billion from the military, but diplomats saw the offer as proof of unaccountable economic power.
