Stand up for Sudan

by Ann Garrison

The US is funding a genocide. Of course we all know that, but how many of us know about Sudan?

US responsibility for genocide in Sudan is less obvious than US responsibility for genocide in Gaza. It’s one step further removed. Simply put, the US arms Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza, but the US also arms the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which arms the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as they commit genocide in Sudan. 

The US role in Sudan is no less heinous than its role in Gaza.

The context of the Sudan genocide is the Sudanese Civil War (2023–present), distinguished by dates from the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) and the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005). Two months ago I had a long conversation about the genesis and history of the current war with Sudanese Sovereign Media Editor Ahmed Kaballo, which is posted to the Black Agenda Report YouTube Channel. Another good source is Decolonize Sudan.

As Kaballo said, Sudan is now the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Sudanese suffer much as Gazans do but their numbers are far greater. The entire population is 52 million, and according to the UN Refugee Agency, reporting in April 2025, 13 million had to flee their homes. Roughly 4.5 million were refugees in neighboring countries, and roughly 8.6 million were internally displaced. One million refugees from neighboring countries were already living in Sudan prior to the civil war’s outset. 

In February 2026, the International Rescue Committee reported that Sudan topped its list of countries at the highest risk of new or worsening humanitarian crises for the third year in a row. 

“Even before the war erupted in April 2023,” they wrote, “Sudan was already experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis that left 15.8 million people in need of aid. Now, over 1,000 days of war have drastically worsened these conditions, displacing over 12 million people and leaving 33.7 million people — approximately two-thirds — in need of humanitarian support.”

Kaballo said they were eating insects, cow food and hay. They were dying of drone fire, gunfire, torture and dengue fever. 

On Feb. 23, 2026, Sovereign Media posted a thread on X on the new UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission’s report filled with horrifying accounts of mass rape, mass execution,and weaponized famine. It said that the RSF has openly declared their intent to “clean” the non-Arab population of Al-Fashir, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State.

For all that, the worst thing about this report may be that it holds back from identifying the UAE as the power providing weapons to make all this possible. By failing to identify the UAE, it of course also fails to identify the US, which sells weapons to the UAE. 

“This omission,” Sovereign Media writes, “highlights the diplomatic immunity purchased by the Emirates’ petro-wealth, even as their proxy militia commits unspeakably shocking atrocities. 

“Ultimately, this report exposes the limitations of a UN dominated by Western imperial interests, where the ‘sanctity of international law’ is selectively silenced to protect a strategic ally bankrolling a genocide.”

What is to be done?

What is to be done besides raising funds for emergency relief? Always the question and particularly challenging with regard to a conflict so distant, complicated and unfamiliar, even to the American left, which is well versed in US crimes committed in Gaza, Venezuela and Ukraine, however contradictory their conclusions may be. 

It’s even more so because the UAE has become such a key “security partner” to the US and Israel and because various members of the UAE’s ruling class are involved in so much corruption with Donald Trump and his family. 

Nevertheless, in November 2025, two Democrats, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Africa, introduced the “Stand Up for Sudan Act,” Senate Bill 935 and House Resolution 2059 in their respective committees and in the Senate and House. 

Van Hollen addressed an all but empty Senate chamber to introduce the bill on Nov. 20, 2025, and sounded genuinely anguished by the tragedy and horror he described. He seems to be about as good as Democrats get on foreign policy, an opponent of sending offensive weapons to Israel but a supporter of the iron dome defense system, and an advocate of humanitarian relief to Gaza. He’s also a vocal opponent of war with Iran and the US mission to “police the world” but not yet among the 21 House members who’ve signed Rashida Tlaib’s bill recognizing the Gaza genocide.

Van Hollen has voted against National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) that he deemed excessive, particularly when opposing the use of military funds for domestic political purposes or unauthorized actions.

It’s noteworthy that he’s also a rising power in the party thanks to his success at helping to elect other Democrats.

At least one other senator was present for his speech, Iowa Republican Joni Ernst. She jumped up at the end to object because of the close US security partnership with the UAE, which appeared to be her assignment. 

Congresswoman Jacobs’ record on Israel/Gaza is similar to Van Hollen’s, albeit complicated by the facts that she’s Jewish with family in Israel and represents a district with a considerable military industry. She voted against the 2026 NDAA, citing concern about the military’s role in domestic law enforcement.

I include these summaries in the interest of knowing who Sudan’s friends in Congress are. 

There’s been little progress on the Stand with Sudan Act since it was introduced, no sign that it’s even been heard in committee, and of course nothing’s getting passed anyway because of the near deadlock in both chambers.

Despite the horror stories mounting daily, the only hope for this bill is a big Democratic swing in the mid-terms. Even if it were to pass in the Senate and House, Trump would all but certainly veto it, not wanting to inconvenience his financial partners in the UAE, and a two-thirds vote in both chambers would of course be required to override a veto.

Passing this bill ultimately — however distantly — is not out of the question. The sole piece of legislation that President Obama shepherded into law on his own as a senator was the very similar S. 2125: Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, otherwise known as “the Obama Bill.” It evidenced deep understanding of the conflict, presumably Obama’s, and President Bush — who had no business deals known to be of relevance — signed it without objection. 

The bill stipulated that the US would not provide arms to foreign aggressors in Congo, specifically naming Rwanda and Uganda. What happened after that is its own story, but needless to say, it did not end the Congo conflict. 

Again, what is to be done? Daunting as it seems, activists for Sudan have no choice but to try and stem the flow of US weaponry to fuel a genocide in Sudan via the UAE and its proxy, the RSF. 

A major flaw in the text and ancillary citations of both the Senate bill and the House resolution is that they can be disregarded in the interest of national security.

This makes it seem well beyond daunting, but as the Sudanese continue to suffer the most brutal aggression, we have to try. One definite consequence of the Obama Bill was that it was used to educate, and awareness, of course, precedes action.

Everything I’ve said here is painful to consider, so I’m going to close by recommending Jindi & Alijoma’s “One Love Sudan.”

Ann Garrison is a Black Agenda Report Contributing Editor and independent journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. Please support her independent journalism on Patreon. She can be reached at ann@anngarrison.com. 

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Source: https://sfbayview.com/2026/02/stand-up-for-sudan/