U.S. Senator Coons renews calls for sanctions on Sudan’s coup leaders
March 1, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – U.S. Senator Chris Coons and Human Rights Activist John Prendergast renewed calls to impose targeted sanctions on military leaders who carried out a military coup in Sudan last October 2021.
In November 2021, the US Congress adopted the Sudan Democracy Act, which had been filed by Senator Coons, to impose targeted sanctions on the coup leader for undermining a civilian-led democratic transition, peace, and human rights in Sudan.
However, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 1, they did not impose sanctions on the Sudanese military because they believe there is room for a diplomatic solution.
In a joint article released in Foreign Policy Magazine on February 28, Coons and Prendergast reiterated calls for sanctions saying the “kleptocratic military” in Sudan have throttled the nation’s economy and used it to enrich and entrench themselves.
” A modern, comprehensive set of sanctions on the coup leaders and their networks will disrupt the military’s revenue streams and their grip on power, creating an opening for the nation’s nascent democracy movement to grow,” they further stressed.
The authors of the article do not share the position of the State Department on the willingness of the Sudanese military to re-establish a democratic government because that would end their economic privileges inherited from the former regime.
In a report about the al-Burhan coup in November 2021, The Sentry Project which is co-founded by Prendergast, says that “control over the state affords the security services continued opportunities to accrue wealth while shielding themselves from accountability for past and future abuses.
In return, Phee told the senators that the military forces in Sudan are not “monolithic” and do not share the same interest.
“Some of them truly would like to effect the transition but they do not know how to do it,” she added.
Under the Sudan Democracy Act, the President (or his administration) can waive sanctions if he considers it to be in the interest of the U.S.
The article warned that the outcome of the current Sudanese crisis will impact the region far beyond the Horn of Africa and could hurt the interests of the U.S. and its allies.
“Russia held talks in Moscow with senior Sudanese military officials as Russian troops were invading Ukraine, and is suspected of involvement in the military coup in Khartoum in October,” they said.
The article is alluding to the Russian presence in the landlocked Central African Republic and reports about plans to destabilize the fragile transition in Chad and the Sahel countries.
(ST)