The Security Council extends the sanctions imposed on the Sudan for one year

The UN Security Council extended the international sanctions imposed on the Sudan for one year, ignoring Khartoum’s appeals to lift them.

Khartoum has repeatedly called on the Council to abolish these sanctions and lift the arms embargo imposed during the war in Darfur province in 2005.

Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pledged to support Sudan’s demand.

However, the 15-member Security Council extended the mandate given to the Committee of Experts tasked with overseeing and applying sanctions and the arms embargo until 12 March 2024.

13 member voted in favour of extending the sanctions while Russia and China abstained.

China’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, said the sanctions were “outdated and must be lifted because things are improving on the ground.”

Following a popular uprising, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in 2019, after governing the Sudan for three decades, during which the country suffered international isolation and was subjected to strict US sanctions.

After the overthrow of al-Bashir, the transitional government under the presidency of Abdalla Hamdok was able to remove the Sudan from the United States list of state sponsors of terrorism, allowing the liberation of $2 billion in international assistance to the country.

In October 2021, however, the economic crisis worsened after army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s maximum civilian rule, leading to a decline in international aid to the country, while almost daily demonstrations against military rule took place.