U.S. senior Republican lawmakers call for Biden to change Sudan strategy
November 15, 2023 (WASHINGTON) – U.S. Senator Jim Risch, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the Biden administration to adopt a new approach to Sudan.
In a statement released Thursday, the two lawmakers criticized the administration’s “emergency diplomacy” efforts in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as having “repeatedly failed.”
They argued that this approach, similar to previous ineffective efforts by the administration, has empowered the belligerent parties who have consistently broken their promises.
“Expecting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) or Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to honour their latest commitments is futile,” they said.
Launched two weeks after the eruption of war on April 15, 2023, the Jeddah process aimed at quickly stopping the conflict and preventing its escalation to the other regions of the country.
The lawmakers also argued that the administration’s diplomacy has not stopped the atrocities in Sudan. They pointed to the RSF’s recent ethnically targeted attacks in Darfur and the SAF’s continued obstruction of aid distribution as evidence of the administration’s failure.
“As the United States claims success in Jeddah, more innocent Sudanese perish,” the statement said.
Risch and McCaul called for a change in the administration’s Sudan strategy, urging them to engage with a broader array of regional and international partners, including African leaders who are committed to establishing a peaceful, civilian-led future in Sudan.
“The war in Sudan is an unrelenting horror that further proves the United States needs to change its strategy on Sudan,” the statement stressed.
The call for a change in U.S. Sudan policy comes amid growing concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country. The United Nations estimates that more than 25 million people in Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance.
(ST)