US Secretary of State Colin Powell removed Sudan on Tuesday from a list of countries that have been deemed "non-cooperative" with US efforts to combat terrorism, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a news briefing on Tuesday.  

"Sudan has taken a number of positive steps on cooperation against terrorism over the past few years. The US-Sudanese bilateral counterterrorism cooperation and information sharing has improved remarkably," Boucher said.

However, Sudan would remain on a second list of "state sponsors of terrorism" that bans US arms trade with the African country, Boucher said.

"But they (Sudan) remain on the state terrorism list because of the presence of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and some other concern that we have," Boucher said.

The United States has been concerned about Sudan's refusal to fully cooperate with international efforts to ease the plight of more than 800,000 people who have been uprooted in the Darfur region of the country.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2004)