US senators introduce bipartisan bill to sanction Sudan war actors

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen on Wednesday introduced the PEACE in Sudan Act of 2026, aiming to impose sanctions on the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces for fueling the devastating civil war.

Bipartisan backing

Risch said in a statement: "The war in Sudan is a humanitarian catastrophe, a source of instability in Africa, and a threat to US national security." He described the measure as a bipartisan effort to raise costs for the warring parties and their proxies, including Senators Chris Coons and John Cornyn who co-sponsored the legislation.

Sanctions framework

The measure requires the Secretary of State to evaluate whether combatants qualify for designation as Specially Designated Global Terrorists while broadening the administration's discretionary sanctions powers. It also compels the State Department to devise a comprehensive ceasefire strategy, submit reports on foreign governments fueling the violence, and renew authorization for Washington's special envoy to Sudan. The proposed law would permit the president to sanction individuals supplying arms to combatants, recruiting child soldiers, commanding foreign military forces in Sudan, smuggling natural resources including gold and gum arabic, or blocking humanitarian access.

Genocide designation

Conflict has consumed Sudan since April 2023, when clashes broke out between the army and the RSF regarding integration of the paramilitary into the military structure. The violence has generated one of the world's most severe humanitarian emergencies, claiming tens of thousands of lives and forcing nearly 13 million people from their homes. In January 2025, Washington determined that the RSF and allied militias perpetrated genocide in Sudan, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said that "something needs to be done" to halt weapons support to the paramilitary group.