Sudan is engulfed in one of the world’s most brutal wars, with over 12 million people displaced and nearly 25 million facing starvation, but now the Sudanese Armed Forces have crossed a terrifying line, using deadly chemical weapons to gas their own civilians while bodies of men, women, and children “pile up” unburied. Since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country has descended into one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. Famine conditions have already been recorded in parts of North Darfur and the Nuba Mountains.

Four million people have fled the country altogether, mostly to South Sudan, Egypt and Chad. But in recent months, the horror has deepened. Reports have emerged of widespread illness and death following aerial bombardments in Khartoum, Omdurman, Hilaliyah and Kuma in Northern Darfur. In these areas, civilians, including children, have suffered from violent diarrhoea, respiratory distress, and unexplained deaths. Entire families and their livestock have died.

Initially, the authorities claimed these were cholera outbreaks. Doctors were barred from speaking publicly, and hospitals were denied access to international observers. But the evidence quickly outpaced the government’s attempts to cover it up.

Then came a stunning admission. In a video that has since circulated widely, Lieutenant General Yasser al-Atta, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the SAF, was caught saying, “We will use the largest quantity the Commander-in-Chief allows of the secret weapon.”

Last month, the United States officially concluded that Sudan’s military government had deployed chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law. In response, it imposed a set of sanctions: cutting off most non-humanitarian aid, halting arms sales, suspending credit and financial assistance, and banning sensitive exports.

These measures are symbolic, but they are also familiar. Sudan has spent much of the last three decades under US sanctions, mostly imposed for its support for terrorism and its record of human rights abuses.

In 2017, there was a brief thaw during the civilian-led government of Abdalla Hamdok. But by 2022, the old guard was back.

That year, the same men once indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, including former president Omar al-Bashir and his allies, staged a military coup that dismantled the country’s fragile democratic progress. They have since returned to power and are fuelling the current war.

This is why sanctions alone are not enough. For decades, Sudan’s elites have found ways around them, with the help of major global banks. BNP Paribas paid nearly $9 billion for breaching US sanctions on Sudan. Others, like Mashreqbank and Standard Chartered, have paid large fines too. While civilians were starved of goods and basic services, the regime enriched itself.

Even the ICC’s arrest warrants have proven toothless. Not a single Sudanese official indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide has stood trial. After the 2019 revolution, many believed justice might finally be within reach. But the very people responsible for some of Sudan’s darkest chapters simply bided their time, then returned through the barrel of a gun.

Now they are using chemical weapons. The use of such weapons is a war crime. It is not just a Sudanese problem. It is a global alarm bell. Yet the international response remains weak and divided. The lesson Sudan’s rulers have learned is that international censure is survivable, and often temporary.

What they fear is not condemnation, but consequences. That means more than sanctions. It means international investigations, asset freezes, travel bans, and most of all, meaningful support for the Sudanese civil society organisations and democratic movements still bravely resisting this regime.

Sudan’s people have been trying to rid themselves of this violent elite for decades. They marched, organised, and brought down a dictator. But they were left to face the aftermath alone.

Chemical weapons are being used to silence and terrorise Sudan’s citizens into submission. If the international community cannot treat that as a red line, then what kind of global order are we really upholding?

Sudan doesn’t need more statements of concern. It needs coordinated, sustained action. The choice before the world is stark: side with a regime that uses chemical weapons against its people, or stand with the millions of Sudanese still hoping for peace, dignity and democracy.