[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 933 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 933
Calling on the United Nations Security Council to enforce the existing
arms embargo on Darfur and extend it to cover all of Sudan.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 18 (legislative day, December 16), 2024
Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Young, Mr.
Kaine, and Mr. Murphy) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling on the United Nations Security Council to enforce the existing
arms embargo on Darfur and extend it to cover all of Sudan.
Whereas the conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed
Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, that began on April 15, 2023, has resulted in
tens of thousands of Sudanese civilian casualties, and likely more, and
millions of Sudanese people exposed to unspeakable trauma;
Whereas the violence taking place in Sudan against civilians echoes the horrors
of the genocide in the country's Darfur region that began in the early
2000s;
Whereas, in July 2004, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1556 (2004), which imposed an
arms embargo against all non-governmental entities and individuals,
including the Janjaweed, operating in Darfur, and mandated that all
states shall take the necessary measures to prevent their nationals or
entities operating from their respective territories or using their flag
vessels or aircraft, from supplying non-governmental entities or
individuals operating in Darfur arms and related materiel of all types,
including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment,
paramilitary equipment, and spare parts;
Whereas, in March 2005, the United Nations Security Council arms embargo under
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1591 (2005) was expanded to
include all belligerents in Darfur, including the Government of Sudan;
Whereas, in October 2010, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1945 (2010)
was adopted, which strengthened the arms embargo by deciding that all
states shall ensure that any sale or supply of arms and related materiel
to Sudan not prohibited by United Nations Security Council Resolutions
1556 (2004) and 1591 (2005) are made conditional upon the necessary end
user documentation so that States may ascertain that any such sale or
supply is conducted consistent with the measures imposed by those
resolutions;
Whereas, on September 11, 2024, the United Nations Security Council renewed
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1556 (2004);
Whereas state actors and non-state actors across the Middle East, Africa, Asia,
and Europe are providing weapons and material support to the RSF and SAF
for operations in Darfur and across Sudan;
Whereas a September 9, 2024, report from Human Rights Watch noted that according
to the Arms Trade Database, maintained by the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), weapons and equipment from other
countries have arrived in Sudan between 2004 and 2023;
Whereas, on January 15, 2024, the United Nations Panel of Experts on Sudan
presented credible reports to the United Nations Security Council of
newly established supply lines to the RSF through neighboring countries;
Whereas there are credible reports that multiple countries are supplying weapons
and other dual-use items to the SAF;
Whereas a 2024 report by the Department of State-affiliated Conflict Observatory
describes regular cargo plane deliveries of weapons from foreign nations
to the RSF in Darfur via Amdjarass, Chad, and to the SAF via Port Sudan,
Sudan;
Whereas two 2024 reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
identified defense articles in Sudan, including 8 kinds of small arms
manufactured in 6 different foreign countries, 6 kinds of unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAV) manufactured in 8 different foreign countries, 5
kinds of ordnances and projectiles manufactured in 6 different foreign
countries, and several other types of materiel related to weapons
manufactured in 7 different foreign countries, which increase the
lethality of the conflict;
Whereas these weapons have been observed both inside and outside Darfur,
including Gedaref, Northern and Southern Kordofan, Khartoum, and El
Gezira state, all areas that are under either SAF or RSF control and
where the Fact-Finding Mission documented atrocities, child recruitment,
heavy shelling, or sexual violence;
Whereas the conflict has led to the partial or complete destruction of cities
across Sudan, including El Geneina, El Fasher, El Obeid, Kadugli, Nyala,
Wad al-Noura, Zalingei, and even the capital Khartoum;
Whereas one or both parties to the conflict have participated in mass atrocities
in all of these cities;
Whereas the provision of armaments to the RSF and SAF prolongs this conflict and
the needless suffering among civilians in Sudan;
Whereas both the RSF and SAF have continued to use internet shutdowns as a tool
of control and repression, further isolating and exacerbating the
suffering of civilians and the ongoing humanitarian crisis;
Whereas, on December 6, 2023, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken determined that
the SAF and the RSF have committed war crimes and that the RSF and its
allies have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing;
Whereas, in September 2024, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission
for the Sudan, authorized by the United Nations Human Rights Council,
reported that it had found reasonable grounds to believe that both the
SAF and the RSF have committed war crimes and the RSF and allied
militias have committed crimes against humanity;
Whereas the Fact-Finding Mission has documented the use of explosives with wide
area effects in densely populated areas, particularly in Khartoum and
Darfur, that has resulted in deaths, injuries, extensive destruction of
homes, hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure, and the
Fact-Finding Mission has found that the SAF and the RSF have failed to
take sufficient measures to minimize the impact of attacks on civilians;
Whereas the supply and provision of weapons to parties involved in crimes
against humanity and other atrocities could implicate state and non-
state actors supplying weapons used in such atrocities;
Whereas, while no reliable fatality figures exist, according to the United
States Special Envoy for Sudan, as many as 150,000 people may have died
in the first year of the war, and according to advanced statistical
estimates from researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, at least 60,000 people have died in Khartoum state alone;
Whereas women and children have been subjected to torture and extreme sexual
violence in Darfur, Northern and Southern Kordofan, Khartoum, and El
Gezira states;
Whereas the Fact-Finding Mission reports that children are being forcibly
recruited, trained, and armed by the SAF in Khartoum, River Nile,
Kassala, Gedaref, Sennar, and Red Sea states, and by the RSF in the
Darfur, Kordofan, and Khartoum states;
Whereas the draft resolution contained in document S/2024/826, submitted to the
United Nations Security Council on November 18, 2024, by Sierra Leone
and the United Kingdom, and calling for a nationwide ceasefire,
increased protection of civilians and the unhindered flow of
humanitarian aid across Sudan and garnered support from 14 out of 15
United Nations Security Council members;
Whereas only one individual has ever been sanctioned for violating the Darfur
arms embargo pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1591
(2005); and
Whereas the Fact-Finding Mission has recommended that the United Nations arms
embargo be expanded to cover the entire country: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) condemns the atrocities committed by the warring
parties in Sudan, including those that may amount to genocide
by the RSF and allied militias against the Masalit people and
other non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur;
(2) calls for an immediate end to the war and all violence
and atrocities in Sudan;
(3) calls on the United Nations Security Council--
(A) to expand the Darfur arms embargo to apply to
all territory and actors within the internationally
recognized borders of Sudan;
(B) to expand the Darfur arms embargo to include
dual-use equipment under the list of prohibited
material;
(C) to establish a more stringent sanctions
enforcement regime to ensure actors violating the
current Darfur arms embargo are held accountable; and
(D) to establish a mechanism for unfettered
delivery of humanitarian aid and a mechanism to protect
civilians;
(4) calls on the United Nations General Assembly to pass a
resolution that calls for a nationwide ceasefire, recognizes
the atrocities taking place in Sudan, and calls for a more
effective and inclusive arms embargo on Sudan, unfettered
delivery of humanitarian aid across Sudan, and a mechanism to
protect civilians; and
(5) calls on the United States Government--
(A) to increase support for civil society and local
organizations that are monitoring and documenting
atrocities and weapons deliveries into Sudan as well as
delivering humanitarian resources to vulnerable
communities;
(B) to increase and develop improved mechanisms for
monitoring and documenting atrocities and weapons
supply chains into and across Sudan; and
(C) to press the United Nations, the African Union,
and other allies and partners--
(i) to condemn the atrocities taking place
in Sudan;
(ii) to call for a more effective and
inclusive arms embargo on Sudan;
(iii) to work to ensure unfettered delivery
of humanitarian aid across Sudan;
(iv) to support a mechanism to protect
civilians; and
(v) to use their influence to pressure the
SAF and RSF to end this conflict.
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