Sudan

UN ARMS EMBARGO

Background

The Security Council first imposed an arms embargo on all non-governmental entities and individuals, including the Janjaweed, operating the states of North Darfur, South Darfur, and West Darfur on 30 July 2004 with the adoption of resolution 1556. The sanctions regime was modified and strengthened with the adoption of resolution 1591 (2005) [on March 29 2005], which expanded the scope of the scope of the arms embargo [to include Sudanese government and all other “belligerents”] and imposed additional measures including a travel ban and an assets freeze on individuals designated by the Committee.

(From Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan)

Arms overview

All States shall take the necessary measures to prevent the supply of arms and related material of all types and also of technical raining and assistance to the following actors operating in the states of North Darfur, South Darfur, and West Darfur: all non-governmental entities and individuals, including the Janjaweed; all parties to the N’djamena Ceasefire Agreement; any other belligerents.

Set out in paragraph 9 of resolution 1556 (2004) and in paragraph 7 of resolution 1591 (2005).

(From Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan)

US ARMS AND TRADE BAN since 1997

On May 29, 2007, responding to Sudanese President Bashir’s continued refusal to honor his commitments to end the violence in Darfur, President Bush ordered the U.S. Department of the Treasury to block the assets of three Sudanese individuals involved in the violence and to sanction 31 companies owned or controlled by the Government of Sudan.

The sanctions are designed to increase the political pressure on Khartoum to end the violence, and supplement sanctions that the United States has maintained on Sudan since 1997. Those sanctions include restrictions on imports from and exports to Sudan, an asset freeze against the government of Sudan, and a prohibition on U.S. arms sales or transfers to Sudan.

(From US State Department factsheet The U.S. Response to the Darfur Crisis Oct 2007)

In May 1996, then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, reportedly called Sudan “a viper’s nest of terrorism.” The United States closed its embassy in Khartoum in February 1996 and moved the remaining embassy personnel to Nairobi because of security concerns. Moreover, the U.S. government has imposed a series of
sanctions on the NIF regime over the years. Washington suspended its assistance program after the NIF-led coup in 1989, placed Sudan on the list of states that sponsor terrorism in August 1993, and supported United Nations Security Council sanctions on Sudan. The Clinton Administration expelled one Sudanese embassy official, who had been based in New York, for suspected links to an alleged plot to bomb the United Nations. (Goshko, John. “Sudanese Envoy at U.N. Ordered to Leave U.S.” Washington Post, April 11, 1996. A17.) Another Sudanese diplomat, who was a suspect in the plot, left for Sudan.

On November 22, 1996, President Clinton announced the Administration’s decision to ban senior Sudanese government officials from entering the United States as called for in Security Council Resolution 1054. On September 28, 2001, the United Nations Security Council lifted these sanctions. The Administration actively supported allies in the region
affected by an NIF-sponsored destabilization campaign. The United States has provided an estimated $20 million in surplus U.S. military equipment to Uganda, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. The non-lethal military assistance such as uniforms and communications equipment to the “frontline states” was intended to support them in fending off NIF’s campaign of destabilization. Observers interpret U.S. support to these countries as a measure to contain, punish, and facilitate the downfall of the fundamentalist government in Khartoum.

In November 1997, the Clinton Administration imposed comprehensive sanctions on the NIF government after an exhaustive policy review. The sanctions restrict imports or exports from Sudan, financial transactions, and prohibit investments. In making his case for the sanctions, President Clinton stated that “the policies and actions of the government of
Sudan, including continued support for international terrorism; ongoing efforts to destabilize neighboring governments; the prevalence of human rights violations, including slavery and the denial of religious freedom, constitute extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” (Text of the executive order can be found at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Web site at [http://www.ustreas.gov/ofac/legal/sudan.html].)

(From Sudan: Humanitarian Crisis, Peace Talks, Terrorism, and U.S. PolicyM – an Issue Brief for Congress UPdated May 8, 2002)