Suad Abdel Aziz
Sudan is living through one of the worst crises in modern history. For over 900 days, civilians have endured unprecedented rates of mass killings, forced displacement, sexual violence and man-made famine at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As a Sudanese-American human rights lawyer engaged in documenting, mapping and challenging these atrocities, I have watched the United States cast itself as a neutral broker of peace in Sudan while pursuing policies that actively perpetuate the genocide.
In September, the Treasury Department baselessly issued terrorism-related designations under the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. Despite acknowleding that the RSF- a militia group primarily armed by the UAE– is committing genocide, instead of targeting the RSF or its UAE sponsors, the designations fell on Sudanese government officials and resistance actors fighting to defend the country from the RSF’s advance. In doing so, the U.S. framed Sudan’s official government and grassroots resistance to the RSF as “Islamist terrorism”, while allowing the militia that has carried out ethnic cleansing and mass killings to operate with impunity. The logic behind this decision is not new; U.S. policymakers have long filtered Sudan through the lens of “counterterrorism” frameworks that undermine Sudanese sovereignty and harm Sudanese civilians. These new designations destabilize what remains of Sudan’s governing institutions, threaten the fragile infrastructure protecting civilians, and cast a wide dragnet of criminalization that could ensnare Sudanese diaspora organizing in the United States. The result is that community activism, humanitarian fundraising, and advocacy work risk being painted as terrorism.
At the same time, the U.S. not only continues to arm the UAE— the RSF’s primary weapons supplier— but has only increased weapons sales and strengthened diplomatic relations with the UAE since the RSF’s siege began in 2023. The U.S. State Department and American weapons companies are actively profiting off of this genocide, supplying the Emirates with billions of dollars’ worth of aircraft, bombs, and ammunition, even after evidence surfaced that the UAE was funneling arms directly to the RSF.
On top of supplying the RSF’s arsenal through its UAE defense partners, Washington has chosen to punish Sudanese civilians through unilateral sanctions, a red list immigrant ban, and aid cuts. Sudan is experiencing the largest forced displacement crisis in modern history, yet the Biden administration placed the country on its immigrant “red list,” banning resettlement for those fleeing genocide. Humanitarian aid tells a similar story. The U.S. encouraged dependency on its aid structures for decades, only to abruptly cut funding at the height of RSF-made famine. Starving families are being met with shortages and hyperinflation of basic goods as a direct result of U.S. sanctions and aid cuts. The Trump administration has continued these policies.
The consequences are devastating. In besieged areas like El Fasher, where the RSF is deliberately starving civilians, these cuts mean children go without food, medical clinics shut their doors, and community kitchens run out of staples. When I spoke to community kitchens and grassroots humanitarian groups, they described a desperate struggle to keep people alive with dwindling resources.
In the midst of destabilizing Sudan’s economy and abandoning Sudanese civilians at the time of most need, Washington has doubled down on a diplomatic process that further entrenches the militia’s power. Time and again, the U.S. has convened “peace talks” that invite the RSF and the UAE to the table, treating them as legitimate political stakeholders rather than aggressors. Just days ago the Trump administration convened peace talks inviting RSF chief Algoney Dagalo into Washington—amid his forces’ annihilation campaign in El Fasher—a move that laid bare the cruel obsurdity of calling for peace by legitimizing those who commit genocide. In this warped calculus, the RSF—a non-state mercenary group responsible for some of the largest massacres of civilians in modern history—are treated as a political actor that must be bargained with, while the Sudanese government itself is delegitimized. These processes give the RSF international recognition, codify their illegal occupation of territory, and dismiss the voices of civilians who have been resisting genocide on the ground. A so-called peace that legitimizes genocidaires is no peace at all.
What has emerged is a consistent pattern: every lever of U.S. policy is tilted against the Sudanese people and in favor of their oppressors. Sanctions starve the besieged. Immigration bans slam the door on the displaced. Peace talks legitimize the killers. Designations criminalize the resistance. Aid cuts pull the rug out from under dying civilians. And at the heart of it all, U.S. corporations and policymakers enrich themselves in an economy of genocide, profiting from the weapons trade.
American audiences must demand an end to this government’s silent complicity. The U.S. cannot continue to play public mediator and private instigator in Sudan. The U.S. has an obligation to halt arms deals to the UAE, to uphold the right to asylum and to lift sanctions and designations that amount to collective punishment of civilians. Sudan’s survival depends not on another round of foreign peace negotiations, but on holding outside governments accountable for their role in our suffering.
Suad Abdel Aziz is a Sudanese American human rights lawyer and founder of advocacy organization, Decolonize Sudan. At Decolonize Sudan, she documents abuses, files human rights complaints on behalf of victims, creates educational materials and leads advocacy trainings throughout the U.S. Suad has spent her legal career working to support human rights defenders in the global South, advising on issues surrounding surveillance, mass incarceration, and corporate obligations under international human rights law.
