SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Foreign Affairs – Countering Sudan’s Coup

11/11/2021: Foreign Affairs – Countering Sudan’s Coup, by Alex de Waal

Sudan observer Alex de Waal calls for the US to counter the military coup in Sudan by leveraging the rescheduling of Sudan’s $70 billion debt, which requires US cooperation given its controlling stake in the World Bank and IMF.

To prevent army chief al-Burhan sustaining his regime on gold sales, de Waal calls for the US to respond with financial sanctions, including invoking the Global Magnitsky Act which allows the US government to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world, and accelerating plans to uncover illicit flows of minerals that are ferried out of Sudan.

De Waal notes that al-Burhan may exploit Sudan’s “perilous” economy to invoke the likelihood of a food security crisis or collapse of the Juba Peace deal if aid is not forthcoming, but argues that his “back me or things may get worse” argument is “superficial”.