Washington’s Sanctions and the Politics of Pressure

By Ambassador Abdel Mahmoud Abdel Halim
Once again, Washington turns to an all-too-familiar script—one that trades in political coercion and factual distortion under the guise of international accountability.
In its latest move, the U.S. State Department under Marco Rubio, Secretary of State in the Trump administration, has levelled a serious and unsubstantiated allegation against the Sudanese Armed Forces: the alleged use of chemical weapons against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Ironically, even the RSF itself has not made such a claim, and the United States has produced no evidence—no identified victims, no confirmed location, no timeline, and no forensic proof to support the charge.
For a claim of this magnitude, internationally accepted procedures exist, including the use of specialised equipment, laboratory analysis of soil or biological samples, and medical examinations of alleged victims. Furthermore, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)—the global body tasked with verifying chemical weapons use—recently reaffirmed Sudan’s credibility by electing it to its Executive Council in November 2024, with a term extending to 2027.
⚠️ Sanctions as Political Theatre
The timing and context of these accusations, which coincide with the announcement of new U.S. sanctions, strongly suggest that they are a form of political blackmail rather than a genuine concern for humanitarian or legal principles. This episode evokes memories of the 1997 U.S. sanctions—imposed with sweeping justifications and lifted more than two decades later in a manner reminiscent of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, where debt is extracted with theatrical cruelty.
Although the sanctions—effective as of yesterday—ostensibly target U.S. exports, financial transfers, weapons, and technology, these sectors have long been minimal or nonexistent in Sudan’s bilateral trade with the United States. Yet the real-world impact cannot be dismissed, given the interconnectedness of global markets and the indirect pressure that American sanctions exert on other economies.
Sudan’s economy, forged in hardship, has shown resilience in the face of adversity. However, the ethical and humanitarian toll of renewed sanctions remains high—especially as the country begins to imagine a future beyond war, one that demands national reconstruction, economic revival, and international cooperation.

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