III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 20 

Condemning the October 25, 2021, military coup in Sudan and standing 

with the people of Sudan. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 4, 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. RISCH) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Condemning the October 25, 2021, military coup in Sudan 

and standing with the people of Sudan. 

Whereas the people of the Republic of Sudan suffered for 

three decades under the despotic rule of President Omar 

Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, whose government was responsible for the suppression of civil liberties, grand corruption, support for international terrorism, and the commission of crimes against humanity and genocide; 

Whereas, throughout 2019, a coalition of Sudanese civic 

groups, including professional associations, labor unions, 

community groups, democracy activists, and opposition 

parties, led a mass protest movement to demand the end 

of Bashir’s reign and the transition to democracy in 

Sudan; 


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•SCON 20 IS 

Whereas, on April 11, 2019, Sudanese military officers deposed Bashir, and, following continued protests, agreed 

to form a transitional government in partnership with a 

civilian pro-democracy coalition on July 17, 2019; 

Whereas, on June 3, 2019, Sudanese forces led by the Rapid 

Support Forces (RSF), largely comprised of Janjaweed 

militia involved in genocidal campaigns across Darfur for 

decades, opened fire on protesters at an army command 

headquarters in Khartoum, killing at least 127 people, at 

least 40 of whom were found in the Nile River; 

Whereas the military and civilian elements agreed to a 39- 

month transition to democracy, with a Civilian-Led Transitional Government (CLTG) comprised of a predominantly civilian cabinet led by Prime Minister Abdallah 

Hamdok, a Sovereign Council, an executive body with civilian and military members chaired for the first half of 

the transitional period by Lieutenant General Abdel 

Fattah al-Burhan, and a Transitional Legislative Council, which has yet to be formed; 

Whereas the United States and the international community 

supported Sudan’s transition to democracy, with the 

United States identifying more than $1,000,000,000 in 

foreign assistance, and the multilateral Friends of Sudan 

group pledging $1,800,000,000 from roughly 50 countries and international organizations; 

Whereas the CLTG made progress in human rights reforms, 

including guaranteeing the people of Sudan freedom of 

religion and gender equality under the transitional constitution, banning female genital mutilation, and decriminalizing apostasy; 


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•SCON 20 IS 

Whereas, in August 2021, when the Sudanese Cabinet ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal 

Court (ICC), the CLTG made progress towards ending 

impunity for abusers of human rights, stating its intention to deliver Omar al-Bashir to the ICC to stand trial 

for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, 

and formed civilian committees to investigate corruption 

and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Bashir 

regime; 

Whereas the transitional government negotiated a peace 

agreement with several rebel groups, a step towards ending decades of conflict in the regions of Darfur, South 

Kordofan, and Blue Nile, which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and left more than 3,000,000 people 

displaced within Sudan; 

Whereas Sudan continues to face a serious humanitarian situation, with an estimated 13,400,000 people, or 29 percent of the population, in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021; 

Whereas Sudan faces a severe economic crisis, exacerbated by 

the COVID–19 pandemic, which caused the price of food 

and consumer goods to increase significantly, while austerity measures imposed to stabilize the economy resulted 

in the reduction or elimination of subsidies for commodities including wheat and fuel; 

Whereas the political tensions between the civilian and military elements and within factions of the civilian coalition 

undermined the CLTG and contributed to widespread unrest within the Sudanese population relating to a range 

of issues, including the economic crisis, ethnic and tribal 

conflict in peripheral regions, and the unsatisfactory pace 

of reforms; 


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•SCON 20 IS 

Whereas, on September 21, 2021, some members of the military reportedly attempted a coup d’e ́tat against the transitional government, which failed to depose the government but succeeded in precipitating the most serious political crisis of the transition period; 

Whereas, on October 21, 2021, hundreds of thousands of 

people across Sudan demonstrated in support of democratic civilian rule, to counter a smaller protest days 

prior demanding the military take complete control of the 

government; 

Whereas, on October 25, 2021, Lieutenant General Burhan, 

with the support of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, 

also known as ‘‘Hemedti’’, seized control of the government, deployed the military to the streets of Khartoum 

and Omdurman, and arrested and detained Prime Minister Hamdok and other civilian officials; 

Whereas the African Union Peace and Security Council convened on October 27, 2021, strongly condemned the 

coup, reaffirmed the mandate of the CLTG, and subsequently suspended Sudan from the regional body ‘‘with 

immediate effect . . . until the effective restoration’’ of 

the CLTG; 

Whereas the actions of Lieutenant General Burhan and the 

Sudanese military violate Sudan’s Constitutional Charter 

and threaten to plunge Sudan into isolation and instability; 

Whereas the United States Government publicly condemned 

the coup, suspended its foreign assistance to Sudan, and 

urged Lieutenant General Burhan and his accomplices to 

restore the CLTG and return Sudan to the path to democracy; and 


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•SCON 20 IS 

Whereas the Troika (the United States, United Kingdom, 

Norway), the European Union, and Switzerland ‘‘continue to recognize the Prime Minister and his cabinet as 

the constitutional leaders of the transitional government’’ 

and ‘‘confirm once again the international calls for the 

immediate return to the roadmap for democratic transition of Sudan’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) condemns the October 25, 2021, coup in 

4 Sudan; 

5 (2) stands with the people of Sudan in their 

6 democratic aspirations; 

7 (3) recognizes the Prime Minister and his cabi8 net as the constitutional leaders of Sudan’s transi9 tional government; 

10 (4) calls for Sudan’s military junta to— 

11 (A) immediately release all civilian govern12 ment officials, civil society members, and other 

13 individuals detained in connection with the 

14 coup; 

15 (B) return to constitutional rule under the 

16 transitional constitution as the starting point 

17 for negotiations with civilians toward full civil18 ian rule; 


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1 (C) lift the state of emergency, including 

2 complete restoration of all means of commu3 nication; 

4 (D) remove all roadblocks and checkpoints, 

5 and order the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) 

6 and RSF to stand down and comply with inter7 national recognized rules of engagement; 

8 (E) ensure security forces respect the right 

9 to peaceful protest and hold those who used ex10 cessive force and committed other abuses ac11 countable in a transparent, credible process; 

12 (F) cease all attempts to change the civil13 ian composition of the cabinet, Sovereign Coun14 cil, and other government bodies; and 

15 (G) transfer leadership of the Sovereign 

16 Council to a civilian member of the Sovereign 

17 Council in keeping with the transitional con18 stitution; 

19 (5) calls on the Secretary of State to— 

20 (A) immediately identify coup leaders, 

21 their accomplices, and enablers for consider22 ation for targeted sanctions; 

23 (B) urge junta leaders to return imme24 diately to the rule of law as set forth by the 

25 transitional constitution; 


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1 (C) monitor, discourage, and deter any ef2 fort by external parties to support the coup and 

3 the military junta; 

4 (D) coordinate with— 

5 (i) the Administrator of the United 

6 States Agency for International Develop7 ment and other Federal Government agen8 cies to pause all non-humanitarian bilateral 

9 assistance to Sudan until restoration of the 

10 transitional constitutional order; 

11 (ii) the Department of the Treasury 

12 to use the voice and vote of the United 

13 States in international financial institu14 tions to suspend all actions related to non15 humanitarian loans or debt relief to Sudan 

16 until restoration of the transitional con17 stitutional order; and 

18 (iii) the United States Permanent 

19 Representative to the United Nations to 

20 ensure the United Nations Security Coun21 cil is seized of the matter on an ongoing 

22 basis; and 

23 (E) work with the Troika to engage mem24 bers of the international community to join 

25 these United States actions; and 


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1 (6) calls on international partners to— 

2 (A) join United States efforts to impose 

3 targeted sanctions on the junta and other ac4 complices to the coup, monitor, discourage, and 

5 deter any effort by external parties to support 

6 the junta, and urge junta leaders to return to 

7 the rule of law as set forth by the transitional 

8 constitution; and 

9 (B) suspend Sudan’s participation in all 

10 regional multilateral organizations until Sudan 

11 is returned to constitutional rule under the 

12 transitional constitution. 

Æ 


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