The United Nations Security Council on Thursday unanimously extended an arms embargo on Sudan’s Darfur region until Dec. 11, giving members more time to negotiate a U.S. proposal to expand the restrictions nationwide.
The short extension underscores divisions over how to curb the flow of weapons to Sudan’s warring parties, whose conflict has entered its fourth year.
The United States has pushed for a nationwide embargo, while China, Russia and other council members have opposed expanding the restrictions beyond Darfur.
The existing embargo has not stopped weapons from reaching Darfur, but it allows U.N. experts to investigate arms transfers and identify those responsible for violations, potentially supporting further sanctions.
U.S. senior adviser for Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos proposed expanding the embargo in August, working with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz to increase pressure on Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“The United States has presented a resolution to the Security Council that would expand the arms embargo nationwide,” Boulos and Waltz wrote in a September opinion article in Foreign Policy, saying the measure would target arms traffickers, financiers, mercenary recruiters and drone suppliers.
The proposal has faced opposition from China and Russia, which have veto power, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Somalia and Pakistan.
Tensions between Washington and Khartoum have also risen over U.S. policy towards Sudan’s army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The United States withheld a visa for Burhan ahead of his planned address to the U.N. General Assembly last month. Reuters reported that the decision appeared to be linked to his resistance to a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal.
Sudan has said it did not reject the U.S. proposal but instead submitted comments on it.
and then