Biden calls Sudan violence 'unconscionable betrayal', threatens sanctions

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden on Thursday called the deadly violence in Sudan an "unconscionable betrayal" as the White House announced new sanctioning powers aimed at ending the crisis.

"The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy — and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese people’s clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy," said Biden in a statement.

"I join the peace-loving people of Sudan and leaders around the world in calling for a durable ceasefire between the belligerent parties."

In a letter sent to Congress, he said he was expanding the scope of a previous national emergency declared with regard to Khartoum, "finding that the situation in Sudan … constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States".

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'Ready to abide by new 7-day truce'

Hundreds of people have been killed in Sudan since battles began on 15 April between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's forces and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo's Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

As the latest ceasefire expired at midnight (2200 GMT), the army said it was ready to abide by a new seven-day truce, but there was no word from its foes in the paramilitary RSF.

Biden signed an executive order on Thursday that broadens authority to impose sanctions on those responsible for "threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan" and "undermining Sudan's democratic transition", the US leader said in a statement without naming potential targets.

Within hours of the latest supposed ceasefire taking effect, witnesses in Khartoum reported explosions and exchanges of fire on the streets around dawn and clashes during the day in the city of five million people.

The foreign ministry later accused the RSF of attacking the Indian embassy and other evacuated diplomatic missions.

In El Obeid, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) south of the capital, witnesses also reported battles.

The fighting has killed about 700 people so far across Sudan, most of them in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

With inputs from agencies

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