Cardin Calls for Expanding, Enforcing Sudan Arms Embargo
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., urged the Biden administration last week to try to expand and better enforce the U.N. Security Council's arms embargo on war-torn Sudan.
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In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Cardin said the embargo, which covers the Darfur region in western Sudan, should be extended to the entire country amid spreading violence.
Cardin also wants the administration to recommend that the council’s sanctions committee “review the action of all of those alleged to have violated the current embargo and consider how best to enforce a regime that has seen only toothless compliance since it was put into place more than two decades ago."
Cardin also wrote that those responsible for the "rigorously documented" atrocities that have taken place in Darfur should face sanctions.
The U.S. is slated to assume the council's presidency next month, which will provide an opportunity for the administration to push for stronger Sudan policies, Cardin wrote. A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the letter.
Cardin said earlier this month that better enforcement of the embargo is needed to protect civilians from the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (see 2411150005).