Followup Letter To Biden Administration Calling For Targeted Sanctions On Sudan's Coup Leaders
With the security and political crisis in Sudan worsening, Operation Broken Silence is once again joining 100+ NGOs and experts in calling on the Biden Administration to impose targeted sanctions on the military leaders of the illegal coup.
On October 25, 2021, Sudanese Generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka Hemeti, overthrew Sudan’s fragile transitional government. Both men were holdovers from the brutal Bashir regime, which was swept from power during the country’s peaceful 2019 revolution.
These military figures are connected to previous and ongoing human rights abuses and war crimes, with forces under their command carrying out genocidal attacks in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile regions and targeting peaceful protesters in major cities. It was Hemeti’s Rapid Support Forces who carried out the brutal June 2019 massacre in Khartoum. Since their coup in October 2021, their armed forces have killed scores of peaceful protesters and attacked, tortured, and force disappeared countless more.
There are zero signs that such abuses will end, with diplomatic efforts and ongoing peaceful protests across the country failing to change the dark path these men have put Sudan on. Reality demands a more robust international response, including a minimum of targeted sanctions against the primary individuals responsible for derailing Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy and toward peace.
Sanctions should not be used in a vacuum. They should be connected to rapidly evolving events on the ground, the aspirations and needs of the Sudanese people, and a broader overall strategy to help restore the democratic transition in Sudan.
The Letter
Operation Broken Silence is joining 100+ NGOs and experts in calling on the Biden Administration to impose targeted sanctions on the coup leaders. Our last letter was delivered in May 2022 and has received no response.
Read the letter and see the full list of signatories.
Letters like these can make a difference. Shortly before the October 2021 coup in Khartoum, Operation Broken Silence joined another letter calling on the Biden Administration to nominate an ambassador or appoint a special envoy to Sudan. At that point, more than two years after Sudan’s peaceful revolution swept core elements of the Bashir regime from power, the United States still had no consistent senior-level engagement in Sudan.
President Biden responded in January 2022 by nominating John Godfrey, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, to become Ambassador to Sudan. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2022.
Get Involved
Operation Broken Silence has been working in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan since 2011. Empowering local solutions like these is the best way to create lasting change in Sudan.
Building clean water infrastructure goes beyond ensuring basic health needs. Clean water is also about improving security. It’s about empowering women by putting time back into their day. And it’s about educating children by giving them the time to go to school.
We’re taking on this project because we listened to the people living here and because no one else will serve them. You can help by starting a fundraising campaign and asking friends and family to give, or by making a donation.
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
Make checks payable to Operation Broken Silence, write Water in the memo line, and mail to P.O. Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900
