The executive order signed by President Biden does not sanction any Sudanese individuals but does clear the way for future action, said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.
“I wouldn’t read it as a warning,” Kirby said. “It’s the president setting up the proper authorities in case we want to use those kinds of tools.”
The U.S. has repeatedly spoken out against the violence consuming Sudan after two warring generals first clashed last month in the capitol of Khartoum.
The deadly conflict has killed at least 550 people, including civilians, and wounded more than 4,900, while displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
After signing the executive order, Biden called the violence taking place “a tragedy.”
“It is a betrayal of the Sudanese people’s clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy,” Biden said in a statement.
The executive order makes clear that sanctioned individuals would be found to have threatened the peace and stability of Sudan, undermined the country’s democracy or engaged in serious human rights abuses, among other violations.
Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who leads Sudan’s armed forces, and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, have left much of the nation in chaos as they vie for power, collapsing the health care system and economy.
The two generals jointly orchestrated a coup in 2021 to take over a weak civilian government, just two years after an uprising ousted an autocratic leader.
Despite promises to shepherd in a democratic government, war broke out in mid-April between the generals.
In the executive order, Biden said the violence in Sudan “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the interests of the U.S. but stipulated Washington would assist with a democratic transition when possible.
“It is the policy of the United States to support a transition to democracy and civilian transitional government in Sudan,” the president wrote, “to defend such a transitional government from those who would prevent its initial formation through violence and other methods, and, once formed, to protect it from those who would undermine it.”
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
