US says Sudanese military used chemical weapons, imposes sanctions on Burhan

The US government has revealed that the Sudanese military used chemical weapons in the civil war, imposing sanctions on the country’s leader and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

In a statement, the US Treasury Department stated that the Sudanese army, under the leadership of Burhan, used war tactics such as attacks on schools, markets and hospitals, extrajudicial executions, and the indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure in the civil war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

“Under Burhan’s leadership, the S.A.F.’s war tactics have included indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, attacks on schools, markets, and hospitals, and extrajudicial executions,” the Treasury Department said, indicating at the Sudanese armed forces, as per a New York Times report. 

Several US officials hinted that chemical weapons were a key factor behind Washington’s decision to move against General al-Burhan, the report added. Two US officials also stated that the chemical weapons appeared to use chlorine gas. The unidentified officials also expressed concern that these weapons were deployed in densely populated areas of the nation’s capital, Khartoum.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also issued a statement, accusing both RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa and Sudan’s military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of using starvation as a weapon and denying humanitarian access. “Neither man is fit to govern a future, peaceful Sudan,” Blinken said.

Sudanese army chief welcomes US move

Meanwhile, the Sudanese army chief has welcomed US sanctions on him. “I hear there’s going to be sanctions on the army leadership. We welcome any sanctions for serving this country,” he said. 

Sudan’s foreign ministry also issued a statement, stating that the US sanction “expresses nothing but confusion and a weak sense of justice.”

Earlier this month, the US noted that the RSF had committed genocide in the civil war and imposed sanctions on its leader, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Under Dagalo’s leadership, “the RSF has engaged in serious human rights abuses, including widespread sexual violence and executing defenseless civilians and unarmed fighters”, the Treasury Department said in a statement on January 7.

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Sudan crisis worsens

Sudan’s civil war began in 2023 and became the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 150,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced so far, as per reports. More than half of the population has plunged into hunger.

The ongoing crisis has exacerbated many of Sudan’s existing concerns, including economic and political instability, climate emergencies, and disease outbreaks. Since the recent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) the humanitarian situation in the country has deteriorated. 

Half of Sudan’s population (approx. 25 million people) need humanitarian assistance and protection, with many grappling with extreme shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel.