The United States imposed sanctions on Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on Thursday, accusing him of exacerbating the ongoing conflict in Sudan and prioritising war over negotiations.
The US Treasury Department stated that under Burhan’s leadership, the army has engaged in indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and markets, as well as committing extrajudicial executions.
These sanctions follow a similar move last week, when the US imposed measures against Burhan’s rival, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), highlighting Washington’s efforts to avoid taking sides in the conflict.
Burhan responded defiantly to the sanctions, welcoming them as a badge of honour for his service to Sudan.
The sanctions freeze any US assets linked to Burhan and his associates and generally prohibit American citizens from engaging with them, though exceptions were made for humanitarian activities.
In addition to targeting Burhan, the US also sanctioned individuals and entities involved in supplying weapons to the army, including a Sudanese-Ukrainian national and a Hong Kong-based company.
The ongoing civil war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has caused widespread devastation, with millions displaced and half the population facing hunger.
The army, along with the RSF, ousted Sudan’s civilian leadership in a 2021 coup, but tensions between the two factions over military integration led to the recent violence.
The US and Saudi Arabia have made numerous attempts to broker peace talks, but the army has largely rejected these efforts.
