President Obama’s decision to lift sanctions against Sudan neglects the “fundamental human rights” abuses still taking place in the country, according to a top lawmaker.
“For months, the Obama administration has attempted a last-ditch effort to re-engage with Sudan,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said Friday. “Much more progress – particularly on the humanitarian front – will need to take place before we can be satisfied.”
Obama announced the decision to ease economic restrictions on Friday morning. It’s the second foreign policy reversal in two days— the Obama administration Thursday that they are ending the wet-foot/dry-foot policy for Cuban immigrants as part of the effort to normalize relations with Cuba.
The announcement reverses a policy of restricting trade with Sudan in order to put pressure on the government, which was accused of using “scorched earth” tactics against civilians and rebels by Amnesty International in September. The government has taken “positive actions” to mitigate attacks on civilians and support for terrorists in recent months, Obama said.
“These actions include a marked reduction in offensive military activity, culminating in a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan, and steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, as well as cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism,” Obama wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is wanted for war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court, which accuses his military of “subject[ing] thousands of civilian women . . . to acts of rape” as part of a military campaign against villagers in rebel areas of the country.
“[A]l-Bashir, whose regime is dominated by Arab descendants and Islamists, has declared a jihad against the people of Nuba, blacks who practice native religions and Christianity but also Islam,” as The Atavist Magazine explained in a profile of an American doctor working in the region. “In the past four years, the holy war has been waged largely from the air.”
The Sudanese government used chemical weapons attacks as part of “a large-scale military campaign” in January, according to Amnesty International — those attacks predate the re-engagement that the State Department cited.
“Six months ago, the United States began a comprehensive engagement plan with the Government of Sudan aimed at ending the government’s offensive military operations, improving humanitarian access, ending Sudan’s destabilizing role in South Sudan, countering terrorist groups, and ending the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA),” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a Friday statement. “Since then, Sudan has met our benchmarks and made significant progress toward these goals, as well as new commitments.”
The policy change includes a six-month waiting period to ensure that the Sudanese government doesn’t backpedal on the actions Obama cited. “While counterterrorism cooperation has increased, the government still abuses the fundamental human rights of the Sudanese people,” Royce said. “I urge the new administration to look at Sudan with fresh eyes.”
