The US has imposed new sanctions on Sudan's military-aligned government over the alleged use of chemical weapons in the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The US State Department said the latest punitive action restricts Sudan's access to US financing and exports, and bans state-owned Sudanese airlines from using American airspace.
The sanctions came into effect on Monday. The US State Department said last month that it had determined the Sudanese government used chemical weapons in 2024 in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Sudan ratified in 1999.
The Sudanese army had reportedly used the weapons during fighting against the RSF for control of the nation's capital, Khartoum.
What are the chemical weapons claims?
Residents have said the chemical weapons were specifically used in Bahri, one of three Nile-side cities that make up the capital's greater region. The other two are Khartoum and Omdurman, but the entire capital is commonly known as Khartoum.
The residents said the chemical weapons attack took place in an area whose residents had already fled for safety, leaving only army troops and allied militiamen and RSF fighters there. The RSF had not publicly commented on the army's action, a choice analysts believe is designed to protect the morale of the paramilitaries and prevent desertions.
The US State Department statement did not specify the type of chemicals used in the attack nor say when or where they were used. However, an investigation by The New York Times last year revealed that the chemical used was chlorine.
What other atrocities are alleged?
The Sudanese army is also accused of indiscriminate shelling during the three-year war against the RSF. It has a record of gross human rights abuses in previous bouts of civil war in the vast Afro-Arab country, including the war in South Sudan and the western Darfur region.
The RSF, on the other hand, faces accusations of ethnically motivated killings that claimed thousands of lives in Darfur, an area about the size of France that is completely under the paramilitary's control. It is also accused of sexual violence and extrajudicial killings.
Army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo have had US sanctions imposed for their part in alleged war crimes.
How does Sudan's civil war stand?
The war crimes reportedly committed in Sudan have emerged against a backdrop of mass hunger and displacement caused by the conflict.
About 20 million people face hunger in Sudan, according to the UN, and about 14 million have been displaced by the fighting, in which tens of thousands have been killed.
The war broke out after months of tension between the two generals over their place in a democratic Sudan boiled over into open hostilities, first in Khartoum but later engulfing most of the country.
With the war now in its fourth year, the army controls the capital and the northern, eastern and central regions. Besides Darfur, the RSF controls parts of neighbouring Kordofan, where most of the fighting is now taking place, and sections of the southern Blue Nile state.
Repeated attempts by the US and regional powers to broker a ceasefire in Sudan have failed, with Gen Al Burhan insisting on fighting on until the RSF surrenders or is vanquished.
Though the RSF has been more open to peace talks than the army, it has rejected any process that recognises Gen Al Burhan as Sudan’s leader and his government as legitimate – a condition he has demanded in past mediation efforts.
