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On April 15, 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), shattering the hopes for a transition to a civilian-led government. Today, the hostilities continue to escalate: ethnic cleansing has been reported, the Sudanese now constitute the largest displaced population in the world, and the death of 2.5 million people due to mass starvation is looming large.

More than a year since the start of the civil war, the response of the international community has been insufficient to meet the crisis unfolding in Sudan. In the midst of this crisis, the European Union (EU), with its considerable ties to Sudan via aid, trade, and migration, can help drive change by blocking the incentives of the conflict. Until now, the EU has lagged in its response to the conflict, especially compared to the United States (US) and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom (UK). Although the EU swiftly condemned the violence and has dedicated significant amounts of aid together with EU member states, it has not done enough to block the funding feeding the conflict, and it has not gone far enough in its drive to hold the individuals principally responsible for the fighting to account.

While the US and UK imposed sanctions within two and three months, respectively, of the start of the fighting, the EU only imposed sanctions nine months after the start of the war. The US has also scaled up sanctions and increased pressure over six escalating rounds of sanctions, including on top leadership. The EU, on the other hand, has launched only two rounds of sanctions that steer clear of top national leadership and their families, leaving significant sanctions gaps. The EU also falls short of the UK in the number of entities sanctioned, although the UK hasn’t targeted any individuals. The limited EU sanctions to date are a good starting point, but more needs to be done to create sufficient pressure on the warring parties to end the violence.

The use of a full range of more robust tools of financial pressure on RSF and SAF top leadership and their enablers would allow the EU to help create desperately needed leverage for the struggling mediation efforts. Additional sanctions should be enacted to target the domestic and international proxies, enablers, companies, and subsidiaries facilitating the ongoing human rights abuses, as well as the trade in arms and gold essential to sustaining the fighting. The EU—along with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)—should add Sudan to its list of high-risk third countries that have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes in order to help reduce the risk of illicit funds entering the EU financial system. It should also issue warnings to EU companies in the form of business and bank advisories.

The EU must take a strong and united stance against the leaders who put their personal and financial interests above the well-being of Sudan. It is time for the EU to ramp up the pressure and help end the conflict.