The US State Department has imposed sanctions and took effect on Friday on the General Abdel Fattah al Burhan-led junta, accusing them of employing chemical weapons in 2024 during its protracted conflict with rival forces.
The State Department officially informed Congress in May of its finding that Burhan-led junta violated the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Khartoum ratified in 1999.
While Washington did not detail the specific locations or timings of these alleged chemical attacks, Burhan’s junta immediately dismissed the accusations.
The sanctions will restrict US exports and financial dealings with Sudan.
However, urgent humanitarian aid will be exempt, a critical provision given that nearly 25 million people in Sudan are facing severe food insecurity in what is described as the world’s largest hunger crisis.
A History of Accusations and Shifting Relations
This isn’t the first time Burhan’s army (SAF) has faced such allegations.
In January, The New York Times reported, citing anonymous senior US officials, that the Burhan’s SAF had used chlorine as a chemical agent at least twice in the current conflict, reportedly with the direct approval of SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Historically, accusations of chemical weapon use against the SAF date back to 2016, when an Amnesty International investigation claimed they used them on civilians in Darfur.
Khartoum denied these then-allegations as well.
Furthermore, in 1998, the US destroyed the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, claiming it produced chemical components for Al-Qaeda.
Relations between the US and Sudan have been volatile for decades.
Under Omar al-Bashir’s rule (beginning 1993), Sudan faced stringent US sanctions due to accusations of supporting terrorism and, later, genocide.
Following Bashir’s 2019 ouster, the US lifted some sanctions and removed Sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list.
However, some sanctions were reimposed after a 2021 coup led by Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), whose power struggle escalated into the current full-scale war.
By January 2025, both faced US sanctions.
Efforts at mediation, including those by the Biden administration, have consistently failed to achieve a ceasefire.
Devastating Impact and Reduced Aid
Sudanese civilians have historically borne the brunt of sanctions.
Despite decades under a sanctions regime, both Burhan accumulated significant wealth by leveraging transnational financial networks, while the country remained underdeveloped.
Today, Sudan, Africa’s third-largest nation, is experiencing what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with over 10 million people internally displaced and famine already declared in some areas.
The US, once Sudan’s largest donor in 2024, contributing 44.4 percent of the UN’s $2 billion humanitarian response plan, has since reduced its contribution by nearly 80 percent following President Donald Trump’s suspension of most foreign aid.
US exports to Sudan in 2024 were valued at $56.6 million.
