UN extends Darfur arms embargo, blocks broader Sudan sanctions proposal

Russia and China block US efforts to expand the Darfur arms embargo to cover all of Sudan amid ongoing conflict.

The United Nations Security Council extended the arms embargo on Sudan’s Darfur region by two months but failed to agree on a US proposal to widen it to the whole country, after permanent members Russia and China opposed it.

The 15-member council unanimously adopted Resolution 2830 on Thursday, extending the sanctions regime until December 11 to allow more time for negotiations.

It also extended the mandate of the panel of experts that monitors the measures until January 11, 2027. The UN described the text as a short-term “technical rollover”, after the regime was last renewed for one month on September 11.

The sanctions were first imposed in 2005 under Resolution 1591.

The council set up an arms embargo on armed actors in Darfur, a travel ban and an asset freeze on designated individuals and entities, and a five-member panel of experts to monitor them.

Despite weeks of discussion, the United States failed to secure approval to expand the embargo. Russia and China have argued for keeping the existing regime.

’20 years outdated’

“The current sanctions regime is over 20 years outdated, and is insufficient to address the realities of the war today,” US Ambassador Jeff Bartos told the council last month, urging it to “expand the arms embargo across the entire territory of Sudan”.

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Anna Evstigneeva, said at the time: “We will not allow even a hint of broadening the restrictions by the council on Sudan.”

Sudan’s UN ambassador, Al-Harith Mohamed, argued that a total embargo goes against the UN Charter’s guarantee of the right to self-defence.

The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began in April 2023, has killed at least 59,000 people, though aid groups warn the toll could be far higher.

It has also displaced about 13 million people and pushed parts of the country into famine.

The army holds central and eastern Sudan, while the RSF controls Darfur in the west and parts of the south.

Darfur, a region about the size of Spain, has seen some of the worst violence, with displacement camps attacked and repeated ethnic massacres killing thousands at a time.