Sudan says U.S. ignored offer to verify chemical weapons allegations

July 23, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government said on Thursday that the United States had ignored a proposal to send American experts to verify allegations that the Sudanese army used chemical weapons in its war against the Rapid Support Forces.

Earlier on Thursday, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said Sudan had refused to acknowledge using chemical weapons or take necessary steps to address the situation. It added that an internal committee set up by Khartoum was no substitute for an independent inspection by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Sudan’s foreign ministry expressed surprise at what it called Washington’s denial of more than a year of bilateral engagement on the allegations, saying the U.S. had provided no physical or technical evidence.

“The government of Sudan proposed through the joint mechanism to send U.S. experts to Sudan for field investigation and direct verification of claims regarding the army’s use of chemical weapons, but the American side refrained from responding to these invitations,” the ministry said in a statement.

Khartoum said sending experts would have been the most objective approach, accusing Washington of imposing unilateral sanctions based on unproven claims without following standard convention procedures.

In late June, Sudan’s envoy to the United Nations, Al-Harith Idriss, told the UN Security Council that a U.S. team had already visited Sudan, inspected four relevant sites, and collected samples.

Idriss added that despite those site visits, no evidence of chemical weapons use by the army was presented.

The Sudanese foreign ministry said the U.S. sanctions were driven by political motives rather than legal or technical facts.

It argued that Washington’s statements regarding the OPCW were simply an attempt to justify those sanctions.

In May, military commander and Sovereign Council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan formed a national panel to investigate the allegations.

The ministry said the panel was created to fulfil Sudan’s national responsibility to review allegations made by Washington, adding that it was never meant to replace the CWC framework or the OPCW.

It reaffirmed Sudan’s commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention, stating its readiness to cooperate with the OPCW and urging the international community to reject the politicization of international bodies.