U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took to the Senate floor to mark the second anniversary of the civil war in Sudan, calling on the U.S. to resume foreign and humanitarian assistance to the region, help put an end to the conflict and set Sudan back on a path to a civilian-led democracy.
Key Quotes:
- “In the two years since, over 150,000 people have died and 12 million more have been displaced. And you can see this poster reflects the results of what’s happening in Sudan. [In] just two years, 12 million more people have been displaced and are in camps… With acute famine levels at historic highs, 30 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.”
- “As so often happens during war, the impact has been especially devastating to women and girls. During raids by the armed factions, women and girls have been abducted and forced into sexual and domestic slavery. One UN report found gender-based violence skyrocketed by 288% last year.”
- “As Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I am committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle here in Congress as well as with folks in the Trump Administration. Because we must hold these groups accountable for their war crimes. We must support them in ending the violence.”
- “The U.S., the Trump Administration and Congress must create a clear policy to address this conflict. We must resume foreign assistance to the region and Sudan to limit further humanitarian suffering. And we must set aside our differences, bring an end to the violence and renew our commitment to setting Sudan back on the path to a civilian-led democracy.”
The Ranking Member’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
Mr. President, it wasn’t that long ago that Sudan was on a path to recovery after decades of violence and civil war. Back in 2018, Sudanese citizens took to the streets to protest the conditions in the country. This movement pushed Omar al-Bashir—he was indicted by the ICC for directing a campaign of mass killing and rape—out of power. And this set the country on a course for a better future. But sadly, that future was disrupted when the military overthrew the civilian-led government of Sudan. And then two years ago, The Sudanese Armed Forces—led by General al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces—led by General Hemedti plunged Sudan into war.
In the two years since, over 150,000 people have died and 12 million more have been displaced. And you can see this poster reflects the results of what’s happening in Sudan. [In] just two years, 12 million more people have been displaced and are in camps—this is actually one of the “nicer” camps.
With acute famine levels at historic highs, 30 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. And we can see some of the Sudanese people with their dishes lined up to get some assistance.
Now as so often happens during war, the impact has been especially devastating to women and girls. During raids by the armed factions, women and girls have been abducted and forced into sexual and domestic slavery.
One UN report found gender-based violence skyrocketed by 288% last year. So again, we can see the impact.
According to UNICEF, 221 children have been raped—including a case involving a 1-year-old baby. And if this is true, we just can’t ignore it as another horrific detail of a distant conflict. The world is watching and we must hold the people perpetrating these acts accountable for their crimes.
The United States government has determined that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during fighting in Sudan. And the Rapid Support Forces led a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
In January 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department took a positive step. It sanctioned the leader of the Rapid Support Forces and the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces for their armies’ lethal attacks on civilians in Sudan. But more needs to be done. Ceasefire after ceasefire has failed.
Peace negotiations have stalled. And outside countries—the UAE, Turkey, Iran as well as Russia and China—continue to send weapons to the factions. Now why? Well because Russia doesn’t want to give up its port access on the Red Sea, China does not want to abandon the nearly six billion dollars of investments it has made since 2005, and the UAE doesn’t want to abandon Sudan’s wartime gold trade.
According to mining industry sources and research by SWISSAID, nearly all of Sudan’s gold trade flows through the UAE. The United States needs to stand up and say, “enough is enough.” And for people who say, “Well what difference does it make? That’s Africa, that’s a long way away from the United States. Why does it matter?”
Well because, sadly, what happens in Africa, what happens in Sudan, doesn’t stay in Sudan. If you can’t be outraged because of the moral horror of what’s happening there, you should be outraged because the terrorism, the potential disease—that can cross the borders of Sudan, that can come to the United States. And we’ve seen that too often in the past.
Now as Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I am committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle here in Congress as well as with folks in the Trump Administration.
Because we must hold these groups accountable for their war crimes. We must support them in ending the violence.
Right now, both sides in the war continue to bomb, to raid, to siege schools, markets and hospitals. The Sudanese Armed Forces are intentionally denying humanitarian aid, they’re blocking medicine and other relief items.
And the Rapid Support Forces continue to lead an ethnically charged campaign of violence in Darfur. And sadly, so many of the foreign assistance programs that we had in place have been ended or are under review.
The U.S., the Trump Administration and Congress must create a clear policy to address this conflict. We must resume foreign assistance to the region and Sudan to limit further humanitarian suffering.
And we must set aside our differences, bring an end to the violence and renew our commitment to setting Sudan back on the path to a civilian-led democracy.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.