Bipartisan Senate bill prods US to help end Sudan war

Rachel Oswald, CQ-Roll Call on Oct 3, 2024

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A bipartisan group of senators this week revealed draft legislation that aims to prod the U.S. government into taking a more active diplomatic role in bringing about an end to the civil war in Sudan.

The legislation, led by Senate State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., and Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, would require the State Department to regularly report to Congress on whether the mass human rights violations committed since spring 2023 by the Sudanese army and the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have risen to the level of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.

“It is time for Congress to act on Sudan,” Coons said in a statement about the bill, unveiled Wednesday. “Failing to act as the Sudanese people are forced to flee or die in their homeland is a choice that we do not accept. The Sudan Accountability Act will advance and protect the rights of all Sudanese, hold the perpetrators of war crimes and their supporters accountable, expand humanitarian access, and support efforts to bring an end to this disastrous conflict.”

The fighting in Sudan, which has spawned the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, has largely been overshadowed for U.S. policymakers by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war in the Gaza Strip, and now by fears of a larger regional war breaking out between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran.

Some 10 million Sudanese are estimated to have been forced from their homes because of the war, including 2 million who have become refugees, and over 25 million people are experiencing severe hunger, according to Coons’ office.

Frustrated with the death toll in Sudan, which has been estimated from 20,000 to 150,000, lawmakers want the State Department and other U.S. agencies to step up efforts to resolve the civil war.

The bill, which also has Senate Foreign Relations members Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Todd Young, R-Ind., as co-sponsors, would further require the State Department to coordinate with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury and Defense departments on the development and implementation of a strategy for protecting Sudanese civilians from the violence.

The strategy is to include sanctions components; a plan for ensuring humanitarian aid can be delivered unrestricted to vulnerable populations; early warning systems that make use of satellite imagery and open-source data to raise alerts when mass atrocities are imminent; and specific measures to protect women and girls from sexual violence.

The legislation would authorize unspecified amounts for technical assistance including medical, legal and psychosocial support for Sudanese victims of atrocities and financial and diplomatic assistance to the African Union to support its efforts to resolve the conflict.

“It is past time the perpetrators of these atrocities be held accountable. This legislation requires a clear strategy, resourcing, and leadership on Sudan by the U.S. government to protect civilian welfare, particularly that of women and children,” Risch said in a statement. “Congress will oversee these efforts to ensure accountability is adequately pursued.”

The bill does not include any threat to halt U.S. weapon sales to foreign governments, such as the United Arab Emirates, that have been accused of supplying weapons in the war. The UAE has been accused of arming the RSF.

Some House Democrats, including House Foreign Affairs Africa subcommittee ranking member Sara Jacobs of California, have called for the Biden administration to halt weapon exports to Abu Dhabi until it ceases arming the RSF, but that action apparently is a step too far for the Senate bill sponsors.

The UAE has been involved in U.S. efforts to stabilize the situation in Gaza and also participated in a successful multinational effort in April to thwart an Iranian missile strike against Israel.

Despite the Sudan bill’s strong bipartisan backing by senior Foreign Relations members, it faces an uphill climb in the last few months of the 118th Congress given the packed legislative schedule lawmakers face when they return from their fall recess in mid-November.

The committee has also been deadlocked for months over a dispute between Risch and Chairman Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., over the future of a House-passed bill that would impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court.

But with Shaheen is an original co-sponsor of the Sudan bill and the likely top committee Democrat in the next Congress due to Cardin’s retirement, that improves the odds of a successful committee markup of the legislation early next year.

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