U.S. sanctions targeting Sudan’s SAF-led junta officially came into force this week, escalating international pressure on SAF chief and Sovereign Council leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, following Washington’s confirmation that SAF used chemical weapons during the civil war.
The move marks a dramatic reversal from the post-Bashir era, when the U.S. had lifted sanctions and removed Sudan from its terrorism sponsor list. Now, Sudan faces renewed isolation as the war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drags into its second year.
According to the U.S. Federal Register, the sanctions — which include bans on arms sales, U.S. exports, financing, and non-humanitarian aid — will remain in place for at least a year. Limited exemptions were issued for food and urgent humanitarian supplies, citing national security interests.
The sanctions are intended to pressure the SAF to reconsider its hardline stance and return to the negotiating table. Burhan has rejected talks with RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), setting what observers call “impossible conditions,” while Dagalo has expressed willingness to engage in peace initiatives aimed at rebuilding a new Sudanese state.
Washington’s announcement comes amid reports — first published by the New York Times in January — that the SAF used chemical weapons, possibly chlorine gas, in at least two remote areas during clashes with the RSF. Sudanese officials deny the allegations, but U.S. officials say the findings meet the threshold for international legal action under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The sanctions are expected to worsen Sudan’s already collapsing economy. Foreign investment, credit lines, and basic imports are drying up. The Sudanese pound continues to plummet, and food prices are soaring — worsening what the U.N. now calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
More than 10 million people are displaced, and multiple regions are now experiencing official famine. Access to food, clean water, and medical supplies has been decimated by fighting and blockades. Some areas, particularly in Darfur and Gezira, are effectively unreachable by aid convoys.
Burhan, once seen by Western powers as a potential transitional figure after Omar al-Bashir’s ouster in 2019, now finds himself the target of increasing isolation. Sanctions against both Burhan and Dagalo were already imposed in early 2025, following the total breakdown of the fragile post-2021 power-sharing arrangement.
The United States had been Sudan’s largest humanitarian donor in 2024, contributing 44.4% of the U.N.’s $2 billion appeal. But since President Donald Trump suspended most foreign aid programs after returning to office, U.S. funding has dropped by nearly 80%.
Despite previous efforts by regional mediators and the Biden administration to broker a ceasefire, peace talks have collapsed. As war grinds on and atrocities mount, Sudanese civilians are once again bearing the brunt — caught between armed factions, abandoned by diplomacy, and now crushed under the weight of renewed global sanctions.