US to impose new sanctions on Sudan
The White House National security advisor Jake Sullivan disclosed the US will impose visa restrictions and sanction "those behind the violence in Sudan."
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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during the daily media briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. on May 18, 2022. (Reuters)
According to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the US is sanctioning and putting visa restrictions on people responsible for prolonging violence in Sudan.
Read more: Sudanese stuck in war zone after US destroyed their passports: WP
In a statement, Sullivan disclosed that the US is "following through by levying economic sanctions, imposing visa restrictions against actors who are perpetuating the violence and releasing an updated Business Advisory on Sudan. These measures are intended to hold accountable those responsible for undermining the peace, security, and stability of Sudan."
Sullivan went on to say that the United States will continue to support the Sudanese people and their "rightful" demands for a democratic transition.
Clashes renewed in Sudan on Tuesday, despite the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces' recent ceasefire vows, which were aimed at enabling crucial relief to reach besieged people, AFP reported.
The US and Saudi mediators announced late Monday that the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to extend by five days the humanitarian truce that they frequently violated over the past week.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, the war has killed more than 1,800 people.
The UN highlighted that more than a million have been internally displaced and nearly 350,000 have escaped to other countries.
Since battles began on April 15, army leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy RSF commander Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo have committed to a series of truces, though the US and Saudi Arabia said this seven-page deal is different because the warring parties signed it, and there is a monitoring mechanism.
The United Nations warned on Monday that Sudan has become one of the highest alert areas for food insecurity, requiring "urgent" international action.
The Forces for Freedom and Change, the main civilian bloc ousted from power by Al-Burhan and Dagalo in a 2021 coup, warned that Sudan could descend into "total civil war."
