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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 933 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

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.
                                 <all>
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