BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) is mulling over a dedicated sanctions framework for Sudan to eventually target key actors in the ongoing war with asset and bank account freezes and travel bans, according to the diplomatic sources familiar with the matter.
A draft document was shared between member states late last week and further details will be discussed over the following days and weeks, leading to the compilation of a list of banned individuals and companies. The aim is to finalise the framework by September, after which it could be used to compile a list of banned individuals and companies, said the diplomatic sources further.
US President Joe Biden signed an executive order in May this year, laying the groundwork for potential US sanctions.
It is to mention here that the EU has already sanctioned entities and individuals linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin-led Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries, including its operations in Sudan and two gold companies.
“Setting up the regime should serve as a deterrent to Sudanese warlords. It’s a last warning,” one of the sources said. it further said that the framework would stick to individual targets rather than sectoral moves.
Sudan has been experiencing war since April this year as the General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan-led army, who ousted longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir in 2019, and a paramilitary force led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti are fighting each other.
Hemedti derived his wealth from gold mines in Darfur while Burhan’s army is supported by Islamist Bashir loyalists.
Volker Perthes, the UN’s special representative to Sudan warned in July that the conflict showed no signs of a quick resolution and “risked morphing into an ethnicized civil war.” Diplomatic mediation efforts has so far failed and ceasefires have been used by both sides to regroup.
