The US administration on Thursday imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions in response to the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
This comes a day after the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced it was walking away from negotiations with the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following numerous ceasefire violations by both sides and as the conflict in Sudan – which has killed hundreds, injured thousands, and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe – continues.
“It’s important, in our view, to hold people accountable and to recognize that until the calculus of both parties change they will continue to fight each other and destroy this country,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday.
Thursday’s sanctions are the first imposed under a new executive order signed by President Joe Biden in early May that authorized sanctions on those “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.”
According to the official, “these sanctions were already being considered long before there was a formal announcement by the SAF that they were going to pull out of negotiations.”
They target “four companies generating revenue from, and contributing to, the conflict in Sudan,” according to the US Treasury Department.
In addition to the financial sanctions, the US State Department imposed visa restrictions “on specific individuals in Sudan, including officials from the SAF, RSF, and leaders from the former Omar al-Bashir regime, responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Sudan’s democratic transition,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The State Department did not specify who the individuals are. The senior administration official said that “our concern remains” that many members of the Bashir regime “have been freed during the violence and that they pose a negative influence on resolving this conflict, so that is why we included them in the visa sanctions.”
The companies sanctioned Thursday have ties to both the RSF and SAF, but the commanders of those forces – RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti, and SAF Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – were not sanctioned.
According to the Treasury Department, Al Junaid Multi Activities Co Ltd, is a holding company controlled by Hemedti and his brother RSF Deputy Commander Abdul Rahim Dagalo and Tradive General Trading L.L.C., a front company controlled by another brother of Hemedti, RSF Major Algoney Hamdan Dagalo.
Defense Industries System “is Sudan’s largest defense enterprise” and manufactures arms for the SAF, the Treasury Department said, and Sudan Master Technology is “an arms company” and “a shareholder in multiple Defense Industries System companies and a major shareholder in three companies involved in producing weapons and vehicles for the SAF.”
“The targeting of the companies is far from symbolic, it is choking… these parties’ access to weapons and resources that allow them to perpetuate the conflict,” the senior administration official said. “They ideally will have a chilling effect on other countries who would engage with these four companies.”
The official said the US “will not hesitate to take additional steps if the parties continue to destroy their country.”
However, despite the fact that the SAF said it was suspending its participation in the US and Saudi mediated talks with the RSF in Jeddah, the official said that neither party has left the Saudi city, “they continue to talk and they are looking for Confidence Building Measures.”
A State Department spokesperson said Thursday that the violations of the ceasefires in Sudan “have led us as a facilitator of these talks to seriously question whether the parties are ready to take the actions needed to meet the obligations they have undertaken on behalf of the Sudanese people.”
The spokesperson noted that the “ceasefire and its extension were designed to permit the delivery of humanitarian aid and the restoration of essential services to the Sudanese people.”
“Although some urgently needed humanitarian assistance did reach those in need – an estimated two million people – the violations prevented delivery to many more and blocked operations to restore essential services,” they said.
“Once the forces make clear by their actions that they are serious about complying with the ceasefire, the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are prepared to resume facilitation of the suspended discussions to find a negotiated solution to this conflict,” the spokesperson said.