Security Council Extends Mandate of Expert Panel Monitoring Sanctions Regime in Sudan, Adopting Resolution 2725 (2024)
The Security Council today extended through 12 March 2025 the mandate of the Panel of Experts charged with assisting its Sudan sanctions committee, requesting a final report on its findings and recommendations by 13 January 2025.
Adopting resolution 2725 (2024) (to be issued as document S/RES/2725(2024)) with 13 votes in favour and 2 abstentions (China, Russian Federation), the 15-member organ further requested the Panel to provide updates on its activities every three months to the sanctions regime, officially known as the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning the Sudan.
In other terms, the Council expressed its intention to review the mandate and take appropriate action regarding the further extension of the mandate no later than 12 February 2025, and encouraged all parties and all Member States, as well as international, regional and subregional organizations, to ensure continued cooperation with the Panel and the safety of its members.
Furthermore, the Council took note of the Panel’s reporting on the complex financing schemes established by armed groups active in Darfur and requested the Panel to further investigate all relevant funding sources, whether local, national or international.
The Panel was also requested to assess, in its interim and final reports, progress towards reducing violations by all parties, including those that involve attacks on the civilian population, sexual- and gender-based violence and violations and abuses against children, and provide the Committee with information on the individuals and entities that meet the criteria for sanctions.
Speaking after the vote, the representative of the United States highlighted the importance of the Council’s continued support for the Panel’s “independent reporting to shed light on the spiralling situation in Sudan”. The 12-month renewal allows the Panel to make up for the lost time during the previous mandate due to the brutal conflict plaguing the country. He urged the Government of Sudan and all relevant parties to allow the Panel to conduct research and interviews on the ground over the next tenure. That will enable action to stop the movement of arms into Darfur and support efforts to end the ongoing conflict, he emphasized.
His counterpart from the Russian Federation said that her delegation has “no principal objections” to the work done by the Panel. However, the group should not go beyond the bounds of its mandate. Unfortunately, some provisions in this text could be interpreted as an attempt to expand the Panel’s mandate. Furthermore, there is no justification to extend its timeframe beyond that of the sanctions regime itself whose mandate is up for consideration of renewal in September 2024. This is an attempt by the United States to prejudge the outcome of such consideration in favour of its opinion that the sanction regime’s mandate should be extended. That should not depend on the expiry date of the Panel’s mandate, she asserted.
China’s delegate concurred on that point, saying that renewing the Panel’s mandate until March 2025 is utterly unjustified and contradictory. Beijing has long insisted that the Council should take a prudent and responsible approach on sanctions, which are only a means to an end, not an end in itself. They must be reviewed in a timely fashion and should be adjusted or terminated as appropriate.
The representative of Mozambique, also speaking for Algeria, Guyana and Sierra Leone, said that “more could have been done to better and fully reflect the views of all Council members in the text, but this is possibly the best compromise text we could achieve at this stage”, encouraging the Panel to continue to implement its mandate.