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US Senators Condemn Sudan Coup, Call for Sanctions Against Army Leaders

US Capitol building in Washington, US (Reuters)
US Capitol building in Washington, US (Reuters)
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US Senators Condemn Sudan Coup, Call for Sanctions Against Army Leaders

US Capitol building in Washington, US (Reuters)
US Capitol building in Washington, US (Reuters)

The Republican and Democratic leaderships in Congress put forward a draft resolution condemning Sudan's coup and calling for sanctions against army leaders.

The bill, presented by Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and Republican Senator Jim Risch in cooperation with Representatives Gregory Meeks and Mike McCaul, expresses US support for the Sudanese people and their democratic aspirations.

It also recognizes Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and members of his cabinet as the constitutional leaders of the Sudanese transitional government and calls on the military council to release all civilian officials and other people arrested during or after the "coup."

"The military junta must immediately end the state of emergency, release Prime Minister Hamdok and members of his cabinet unharmed, restore the civilian-led transitional government, and respect the rights of Sudanese citizens to protest peacefully. They must show restraint and safeguard the human rights of all protesters."

It urges Sudanese forces to retreat, cooperate with international rules of engagement, respect the rights of peaceful demonstrators, and hold accountable all those who used excessive force and other violations.

The draft urges the junta to stop all attempts to change the civilian structure of the government, the Sovereign Council, and other government facilities.

It called upon the Secretary of State to identify the coup leaders and their associates for sanctions while calling on military leaders to immediately return to the rule of law as discussed in the constitutional document.

The draft calls for monitoring and preventing any effort of "foreign parties" to support the coup.

"The junta's failure to reverse course will result in dire consequences. We will remain engaged with the administration to assess the implications for our relationship with Sudan, including the immediate suspension of further international financial assistance and other appropriate measures," the senators warned.

The bill requires the Treasury Department to suspend all non-humanitarian debts or debt relief activities until the constitutional rule is restored.

The draft also requires the international community to impose sanctions on the army and coup partners and suspend Sudan's membership in all international organizations until the transitional government returns under civilian leadership.

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Arab World

Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
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Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)

In a nearly one-minute video, a young Yemeni man tells how he and his colleagues traveled to Russia on the promise of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering”, but ended up fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
The young man, whose face was covered, expressed with his colleagues their desire to return to Yemen. They said they did not wish to suffer the same fate as their friends and get killed.
Last Sunday, The Financial Times said in a report that Russia’s armed forces have recruited hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in Ukraine, brought by a shadowy trafficking operation that highlights the growing links between Moscow and the Houthi militant group.
Later in video recordings, young Yemeni men spoke about the practice of Houthi smugglers who take advantage of the difficult economic conditions of Yemenis to recruit hundreds of them, and send them to fight alongside Russian troops.
The network of traffickers operate from Yemen and other Arab countries, and coordinate with others within Russian territory.
The Houthi network recruited hundreds of Yemenis and sent them to fight in Russia, according to sources close to their families and others in the Yemeni government.
In one of the videos, a group of Yemeni recruits said they worked in Oman, when a medical equipment company founded by a Houthi politician, Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, lured them by promises of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering” in Russia.
They said they were promised a salary of $2,500 per month. But arriving in Moscow, they were received by a representative from the Russian Defense Ministry who told them they will work as security guards at Russian facilities.
Two days after their arrival, the recruits were sent to camps, where they trained for combat and received a salary of between $185 and $232 a month. They are now calling on the Yemeni government to intervene to return them to their country.
But another Yemeni, Ahmed, who is familiar with a group of recruits, explains that he and his friends had warned these young men not to go to Russia where they risk getting involved in the ongoing war.
The recruits told him that they could escape to Europe and seek asylum as hundreds of Yemenis did before.
However, after arriving with the help of a Houthi-linked medical company, many have apparently been coerced into the Russian military, forced to sign fighting contracts at gunpoint and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
A member of the Yemeni community in Russia told Asharq Al-Awsat that smugglers are luring Yemeni young men to go to Russia to work for salaries of up to $2,500 per month and are then transferred to Arab capitals, including Muscat, Beirut and Damascus, to be then transferred to Russian territory.
After their arrival, he said, the recruits are taken to weapons training camps, allegedly as employees of a security company. But they are later sent to fight on the front lines with Ukraine along with mercenaries from other nationalities.
Activists and members of the Yemeni community in Russia estimate that there are about 300 young Yemenis who refuse to join the fighting in Ukraine and want to return to their country.
“Those men were tempted by the dire economic conditions in Yemen due to the ongoing war,” the activists said.
A Yemeni recruit of the shadowy trafficking operation said that Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, a prominent Houthi politician, is one of the main recruiters. He is assisted by his brother Abdul Waheed, who was appointed by the group as director of Al-Masrakh districts in Taiz Province.
The recruit said that the group of traffickers includes Hani al-Zarriqi, who has been living in Russia for years, and Mohammed al-Iyani, who lives in a Yemeni neighboring country.
Two relatives of the recruits accuse al-Jabri and his aides of arranging the transfer of the young men from Yemen to a neighboring country, and from there to Moscow, on the pretext of working for private security companies. The traffickers receive a commission of between $10 and $15 thousand per person.