WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement after the Biden Administration announced Thursday it had sanctioned entities linked to the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for fueling the conflict in Sudan:
“Thursday’s actions do not even represent a half-step in what needs to happen. The sanctions designations, while positive in their own right, do not openly hold accountable the top Sudanese individuals responsible for the catastrophic situation in Sudan. The people most responsible for destabilizing the region and ongoing brutality against the Sudanese people remain untouched by U.S. sanctions.
“Not unlike its policy response to the civil war in northern Ethiopia, the administration once again has avoided holding accountable top-level officials of the warring parties in Sudan. We can't let another African conflict of this magnitude persist without taking more transparent and direct action against those responsible for the fighting, which has killed hundreds, injured thousands, and displaced millions. These actions once again come short of real accountability."
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