Clooney’s pressure group: Sanctions against Sudan should be intensified

US sanctions against Sudan should not only be maintained but should be intensified and targeted against individuals and the country’s security services, George Clooney’s Enough Project told the United States Congress yesterday.

Read: Rebels call for US to keep sanctions on Sudan

Speaking in front of the House’s Foreign Affairs committee, Director of the Enough Project, Brad-Brooks Rubin, said the lifting of sanctions should be tied to a tangible improvement in human rights, freedom from religious persecution and a comprehensive peace agreement for Sudan’s Western region, Darfur.

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Rubin called for targeted sanctions against individuals suspected of war crimes and also called for the freezing of assets on Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). As a benchmark, he recommended that any property or business with up to 25 per cent NISS ownership should be subject to new sanctions and the Sudanese burgeoning gold industry should be closely monitor to establish whether existing sanctions were being broken by sales on the black market or by using loopholes that bypassed the embargo.

In conclusion, Rubin said:

[the Trump administration should] use vigorous enforcement and integration with a negotiation strategy on, and incentives linked to, the most critical policy issues within Sudan that can raise the chances of success over the long term on the Human Rights and Peace track, which must be the policy focus.

Last January, former US President Barack Obama eased the 19-year economic and trade sanctions on Sudan. The decision came as a response to the Sudanese government’s cooperation on various issues including the fight against terrorism.

The final decision on the lifting of sanctions is expected in June.

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Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir