WASHINGTON — After nearly three weeks of fierce fighting in Sudan, President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday that authorizes targeted sanctions on those responsible for the violence that’s killed more than 500 people and threatened to tank the country’s democratic transition.
The order stops short of specifically naming any parties to the fighting but paves the way for sanctions on “individuals responsible for threatening Sudan’s stability, undermining its democratic transition, using violence against civilians and committing serious human rights abuses,” Biden said in a statement.
It’s yet another warning sign from Washington after years of what some former officials say were missed opportunities by US administrations to put serious pressure on Sudan’s generals.
The sanctions threat comes as Biden administration officials have been working the phones to get Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo to agree to a permanent cease-fire.
