President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order that laid the groundwork to levy sanctions against Sudan.
A humanitarian crisis has exploded in the eastern African nation as two of its top generals wage civil war against each other. In late April the Pentagon dispatched Navy SEALs to evacuate U.S. diplomats from Sudan, where citizens have been left “paralyzed” without food, water or electricity nationwide.
As of Saturday, the death toll amid the fighting had reached at least 411 people, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, which monitors casualties.
In a statement Thursday, Biden called the fighting a “betrayal of the Sudanese people’s clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy.”
“This violence, which has already stolen the lives of hundreds of civilians and began during the holy month of Ramadan, is unconscionable,” he added. “It must end.”
The fighting broke out on April 14 when Sudan’s two top generals, armed forces chief Abdel-Fattah Burhan and head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, entered into unprecedented combat for control of Sudan and its population of more than 46 million people.
The two military leaders had seized power in Sudan in 2021, toppling a civilian-led government. About a year and a half ago they had jointly brokered a military coup to derail Sudan’s transition to democracy.
Biden’s statement Thursday sanctions would be levied to “hold individuals responsible for threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan; undermining Sudan’s democratic transition; using violence against civilians; or committing serious human rights abuses.”
