In the Press...
Export Compliance Daily article on Smith's House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee hearing on Sudan'House Lawmaker Seeks Terror Label for Sudan's RSF'By Marc Selinger Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, said Dec. 11 the U.S. should designate Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia a Foreign Terrorist Organization. At a hearing on Sudan’s civil war, which pits the militia against the Sudanese Armed Forces, Smith accused the RSF of a host of crimes, including a recent deadly attack on a kindergarten. His comments came about six weeks after a bipartisan group of six senators said the U.S. should consider designating the RSF an FTO or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (see 2511040018). Also at the subcommittee hearing, Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., the panel's ranking member, urged the Trump administration to sanction entities in the United Arab Emirates that back the RSF. She also called for blocking weapons sales to the UAE until it stops providing material support to the RSF. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., tried unsuccessfully last month to force a Senate vote on a bill to suspend arms sales to the UAE (see 2511210036). Vincent Spera, deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, told the subcommittee that the Trump administration is trying to use its diplomatic tools to end “external support” for Sudan’s warring parties. He said the U.S. has already "imposed a wide range of consequences throughout the conflict," including sanctioning a transnational network Dec. 9 for allegedly recruiting Colombians to fight for the RSF. |