US place serious sanctions on leader of an African state

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Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan of Sudan has been charged by Washington with favouring war above de-escalation and dialogue in his nation’s 21-month conflict.

General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the leader of Sudan, has been sanctioned by the US government for commanding an army that has attacked civilians during the continuing civil conflict between the African nation and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Over a week after Washington accused Al-Burhan’s adversary, RSF commander Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti, of genocide during the nearly two-year fight, the Treasury Department made the announcement Thursday.

Millions more have been displaced and tens of thousands have been dead in Sudan since conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) began in mid-April 2023 over the nation’s planned transition to civilian rule.

The country in northeastern Africa is in danger of starvation, the UN has warned on several occasions.

Several ceasefire agreements, including those reached by the warring parties, have finally fallen through, despite being mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States in Jeddah.

By declining to take part in peace negotiations to put an end to the violence, Al-Burhan was accused by the US Treasury Department on Thursday of “choosing war over good-faith negotiation and de-escalation.”

“The SAF’s war tactics under Burhan’s leadership have included extrajudicial executions, attacks on hospitals, schools, and markets, as well as indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure,” the department said.

The army’s “deliberate obstruction” of help reaching millions of Sudanese has contributed to the world’s largest humanitarian disaster, according to a separate statement from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He claims that more over 600,000 Sudanese are suffering from famine, and that over 25 million are severely food insecure.

“Al-Burhan has obstructed the advancement of peace, including by refusing to participate in international ceasefire talks in Switzerland in August 2024. Al-Burhan has repeatedly obstructed the political transition to a civilian government,” Blinken stated.

A Hong Kong-based business that reportedly provides weaponry to the SAF was also the target of Washington’s action against the army chief.

According to the Treasury Department, Americans will not be allowed to engage with them, and their properties in the US would be frozen. However, in order to prevent obstructing humanitarian aid, it has approved some transactions, including those involving the warring generals.

The US sanctions on Sudan’s de facto leader were criticised as “flawed” and “unethical” by the country’s foreign ministry in a statement.

“The [Biden] administration’s move, days before the end of its tenure, to sanction the Commander-in-Chief of SAF, who is protecting the Sudanese people from this genocidal design, reflects inconsistency and a profound failure to uphold justice,”the ministry stated.

Al-Burhan met with Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the president of Guinea-Bissau, and Assimi Goita, the interim leader of Mali, over the weekend and accused “colonial powers” of escalating tensions in Africa.

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