United States Policy on Sudan

Updated Version: April 2008

 Overall Policy

Sudan is one of the Bush administration’s highest foreign policy priorities. The United States is committed to ending the violence in Darfur through a political settlement, providing humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations, enabling the deployment of an international peacekeeping force, and promoting democracy in Sudan.

The United States is pushing for full implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), signed in May 2006, and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005. The CPA, which ended a 21-year civil war between the North and the South, calls for democratic elections at every level before July 2009. Implementation of these agreements will help end the crisis in Darfur and provide a framework for development of a peaceful, unified, and democratic Sudan. The U.S. also supports rapid deployment of more than 20,000 peacekeepers to Darfur authorized by the United Nations.

The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Sudanese individuals and companies owned or controlled by the Government of Sudan to increase pressure on Khartoum to end the violence in Darfur.

Political Process in Darfur

The United States supports the lead of the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) in renewing negotiations between the Government of Sudan and those rebel groups which did not sign the DPA. The U.S. believes the DPA creates broad structures for a political solution that will allow millions of people in Darfur to reconstruct their lives in peace.

Assistance

The United States is the largest single donor to Sudan, including Darfur where more than 2.5 million people live in camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The U.S. FY 2007 budget for Sudan is estimated at $1 billion for humanitarian, development, and peacekeeping assistance. President Bush has requested a similar level of funding in FY 2008. Some $2.7 billion was given to Sudan between FY 2005-2006, including a million metric tons of food. The United States provided more than 65 percent of the World Food Program’s food aid to Sudan in 2006.

Peacekeeping

The United States supports the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) as it transitions to a larger, more robust UN/AU hybrid peacekeeping force. The United States operates and maintains 34 AMIS base camps and also provides troops with vehicles and communication equipment. The United States has contributed more than $400 million for AMIS since 2004.