Washington DC - The State Department imposed a new round of sanctions on the Sudanese government on Monday, accusing it of using chemical weapons against rival paramilitaries.
The State Department last month announced a second round of sanctions on the army-aligned government. Its decision came after last year's determination that "the Government of Sudan used chemical weapons in 2024," violating the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Khartoum ratified in 1999.
Washington has not provided details on where or when the chemical attacks specifically occurred and Sudan's army-aligned government has repeatedly denied the US allegations, calling them "baseless" and "political blackmail."
The latest round of sanctions, effective Monday, further limit Sudan's access to financing and US exports, and ban Sudan-owned carriers from using US airspace.
Since April 2023, the war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has drawn widespread reports of war crimes, the US also sanctioning paramilitary commanders for committing genocide in Darfur.
Last year, the New York Times and France 24 reported the Sudanese army had used chemical weapons at least twice during the war.
The American outlet, citing four anonymous senior US officials, said the chemical agent used, with the direct approval of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, was chlorine.
In an October investigation, the French media outlet reported the army dropped two chlorine barrels in September 2024 around the al-Jaili oil refinery north of Khartoum.
It used open source data, social media footage, and five experts to confirm two barrels of chlorine gas had been dropped by aircraft. The RSF controlled the area at the time.
Today, the country is suffering what the UN calls the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with nearly 20 million people suffering acute food insecurity.
The war has killed over 200,000 people, according to some estimates by aid workers, and has unleashed countless atrocities on civilians.