Security Council extends sanctions on Sudan for two months

The sanctions, under Resolution 1591, include an arms embargo.

The resolution also extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the Sanctions Committee on Sudan, which was scheduled to expire on November 9, 2026, until January 11, 2027.

The United States drafted the resolution in its capacity as the penholder for the Sudan sanctions file at the Security Council.

The decision follows a one-month "technical extension" adopted unanimously by the Council on September 11, under Resolution 2828, which extended the sanctions regime until October 9.

Washington had proposed the technical extension after weeks of negotiations over a previous draft that sought to expand the arms embargo to cover all of Sudan and apply it to all parties operating in the country, in addition to addressing the issue of drones and dual-use technology, according to the independent "Security Council Report" website, which provides documentation on the activities and deliberations of the Security Council.

However, the previous US draft did not gain consensus within the Security Council, as the three non-permanent African member states—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Somalia—along with China, Pakistan (a non-permanent member), and Russia, preferred to extend the sanctions regime for one year in its current form, with the arms embargo remaining limited to the Darfur region in western Sudan.

According to diplomatic reports, China and Russia also expressed reservations about the draft's heavy focus on the role of drones in the conflict.

The goal of the one-month technical extension was to allow more time for Security Council members to negotiate and bridge their differences, but the positions of member states remained largely unchanged, and the additional period was not sufficient to overcome the disagreements.

This comes as several fronts in Sudan have witnessed military escalation over the past few days, most notably in Blue Nile State in the southeast of the country, following attacks launched by the "Rapid Support Forces" and the allied "Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North" on several areas in the state.

Humanitarian suffering in Sudan is worsening due to the war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, which has been ongoing since April 2023 due to a dispute over the unification of the military establishment, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of about 13 million people.