Sudan declines UN’s proposed weapons embargo expansion

Sudan’s Justice Minister refused the UN’s call for a nationwide weapons embargo, as reported by the Sudan Tribune, on 27th February. The appeal was initiated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, during an interactive dialogue held in Geneva that day. Turk addressed his concern for Sudan’s civil war in what he described as ‘brutal, bloody and senseless’. He had blamed the ongoing fighting and refusal to agree to a humanitarian truce equality on the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Turk pushed for a broader arms embargo that contains Sudan’s national borders, in order to de-escalate the war.

However, the Sudanese Justice Minister, Abdullah Doref had rebuked these plans altogether. He stated it was ‘nothing but an adoption of the demands of the militia and its supporters’. (He was referring to the RSF). Doref reiterated that the SAF satisfies its constitutional duties to maintain security, uphold the rule of law and defend the nation’s unity and territorial integrity, while the RSF had perpetrated systematic and widespread violations against civilians. On 26th January, Abdel Fallah al-Burhan, the Sudanese sovereignty council chairman and army chief, pronounced similar rhetoric at a press conference. He stated that, “there will be no peace until the RSF is eliminated and any solution proposed that includes the RSF is nothing more than postponing the crisis”.

Since the war begun in April 2023, there still remains no clear signs of reaching a settlement. Either way, the flow of weapons to both official channels and cross-border smuggling networks, has prolonged the war and complicated peace efforts. As a result, all efforts to navigate the outcome of the war have been poised squarely at the battlefield on both fronts; not at the negotiation table. As of now, weapons have moved beyond regular forces and large militias to local and tribal groups, raising the risk of the conflict splintering into difficult-to-contain secondary wars.

Nevertheless, as previous experiences in other countries have shown, embargos without regions enforcement and oversight risk being symbolic. In such cases, illicit weapons flows continuing smuggling networks adapting, and profits for traffickers rising. However the question, as Turk emphasised, is not whether a nationwide embargo is a silver bullet, but whether maintaining the status quo is less costly. In a war without clear horizons, an unrestricted arms flow reinforces a logic of mutual attrition. UN officials warn that any delay in curbing the internal arms race will result in more bloodshed and further complications in restraining Sudan’s stability.

The Arab Weekly, Sudan Tribune, Maghrebi.org