Under pressure

US hints at sanctions on Burhan and Hemeti if Sudan peace talks falter

By Julian Pecquet

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Posted on May 11, 2023 10:32

© Activists demonstrate in front of the White House, calling on the US to intervene to stop the fighting in Sudan, in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2023. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) — Activists demonstrate in front of the White House, calling on the US to intervene to stop the fighting in Sudan, in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2023. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP)

The Joe Biden administration warned this week that it had a package of sanctions at the ready if talks that the US and Saudi Arabia are mediating in Jeddah don’t end the fighting in Sudan.

Under pressure from frustrated lawmakers and disappointed democracy activists, the State Department’s top official for political affairs told US senators that it had a list of names ready to be targeted under new sanctions authorities that President Biden announced last week after factional fighting broke out on 15 April.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 10 May, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland hinted that these could include rival generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo themselves.

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