US sanctions Sudan over alleged chemical weapons

US sanctions on Sudan’s government have taken effect after they were announced in May due to what Washington alleges was the military’s use of chemical weapons in 2024, according to The New Arab on June 29^th.

The sanctions – which restrict US exports and arms sales to Sudan whilst also imposing financial borrowing limits on the government in Khartoum – will last for at least one year, the US government announced in a notice published by the Federal Register on June 27^th.

It outlined that assistance to Sudan will be terminated “except for urgent humanitarian assistance and food or other agricultural commodities or products.”

Despite this, the notice added that certain measures are to be put aside as doing so “is essential to the national security interests of the United States.”

“The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations” under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty signed by almost all countries that forbids their use. The US state department issued this demand in May 2025 when it announced the sanctions.

In January, the New York Times reported that the Sudanese military used chemical weapons against the Rapid Support Forces on at least two occasions in remote areas of the country.

Citing US officials who remained anonymous, the New York Times identified the weapon as chlorine gas, which can cause severe respiratory pain and death.

The Sudanese government has firmly denied the US’ allegation, claiming that it was employed by Washington as a strategic political distraction after the Sudanese Armed Forces seized US-manufactured ammunition from RSF combatants.

The effect of the imposition is likely to be quite limited as the leaders of both the military and RSF – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, respectively – are already under US sanctions.

A power struggle between both armed groups erupted into a full-scale civil war in April 2023, which has wrought havoc and destruction on the developing nation.

Tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict, and upwards of 13 million have been displaced. The World Food Programme has warned of imminent famine in some regions, whilst the UN has labelled the situation in Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The New Arab, Maghrebi.org