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Congressional Daily Record
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April 15, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. WARNER. Mr. President, I come before you today to mark the third anniversary and, unfortunately, the start of the fourth year of conflict of the war in Sudan.
the whole world. This conflict and the resulting humanitarian crisis are largely being ignored by people across the world, including in our country, who are best positioned to make a difference.
brutal dictators of the 20th century was actually overthrown by civil society and young people in Sudan looking for a better country. It was an effort to move toward a democracy, but that move was suddenly halted by two generals, each of a separate warring party and, unfortunately, fueled by external actors.
their homes—a quarter of the population—and has left literally half of the country's 50 million people on the brink of starvation and acute hunger. Yet, still now 3 years in—and I understand how they feel—the Sudanese people feel basically forgotten by the world.
and I rise again today because this conflict cannot continue to be ignored. America must lead, not back away, in times like these when suffering and terror are at their peak.
Sudanese Armed Forces—remnants of the previous government—called the SAF, and the Rapid Support Forces—another militia group—both fighting against each other for control of the country. It is estimated that the fighting and resulting food crisis may have killed more than 100,000 Sudanese and left millions more on the verge of starvation.
The remarkable thing is that there are no good guys here. Both the SAF and the RSF have inflicted horrible atrocities on the people of Sudan. The U.S. Government has accused members of both SAF and the RSF of war crimes, while in January of last year, the State Department issued a determination that genocide had literally been committed by the RSF and its allied militias in the Darfur region of Sudan.
declared a famine in parts of southern and western Sudan, and there is a high risk of this famine condition spreading across the balance of the country.
Sudan's economy has collapsed. Unemployment now is close to 50 percent of the whole population. A generation of children risk being denied education because of how dangerous it is to even go to school.
Conditions, unfortunately, may actually get worse. We have seen the war in Iran dramatically disrupt fuel and fertilizer shipments— particularly devastating as Sudan enters what should be its planting season in coming months. Globally, the United Nations has warned that the impacts stemming from these fuel, fertilizer, and supply chain disruptions would place more than, again, 45 million people in Sudan at risk of acute hunger.
Let's be clear. This is a catastrophe. In fact, more people die every day in Sudan than Gaza and Ukraine combined.
It is not a new issue. I pushed the Biden administration repeatedly. But the U.S. response in addressing the scale of suffering that we see remains, unfortunately, woefully inadequate.
First and foremost, the Sudanese people need humanitarian aid. They need aid workers, humanitarian organizations. And the local Sudanese volunteers, many who put their lives at risk on a daily basis, need the access to respond.
broader U.S. foreign assistance infrastructure, so there is no clear and coordinated diplomatic strategy for addressing this conflict, for rallying the international community, for coordinating with local responders and organizations on the ground.
dramatically worsened conditions. When we dismantled USAID and the funding of the administration, we literally had a situation where American food and medicine that we had paid for were sitting on ships in the port of Sudan, and the workers that were literally paid a dollar or two a day to take that food and distribute it, because we shut down USAID, were left without any distribution network. So in some cases, this
Due to the absence of strong U.S. leadership in addressing this conflict and the fact that the international bodies have not been coordinated, there has been an opening here for outside influence. Foreign entities and governments are backing their surrogates on each side in a way that is, again, chilling.
In my State, in Virginia, we have a large Sudanese diaspora. Since the conflict began, I have sat with and heard from many members of that community, and it is clear what must be done.
I still remember a young family. Literally, they were in their late twenties. They had to rush and leave the country because the civil war was breaking out. They left behind at that point, I think, their 6- month-old daughter. Three years later, their aging parents are not really able to take care of that daughter, who is now 3\1/2\ years old. The parents have not seen the daughter in 3 years, and they have no idea what will happen to her on a going-forward basis.
The Sudanese people did not ask for this war. As I mentioned at the outset, the outbreak of this violence and this civil war between these warring generals, warring groups trying to divide the spoils of the country, came literally 4 years after pro-democracy protests swept parts of Sudan in 2019.
previous dictator who had been around for close to 40 years. What happened was there were literally hundreds of civic, professional, and political organizations that came together at that moment in the revolution—this was a people's revolution—and they thought that after the long term of this dictator, they might finally have civil liberties and an actual democracy.
opportunity to live in peace and to have a responsive, democratically elected government that incorporates civil society, women, and youth. Instead, we have some of our allies in the region—Saudi Arabia backing one side and the Emirates backing another. Because of this divide, you now have other countries, like Russia and Iran, coming in to try to make more mischief and try to bring about more hardships.
this crisis in Sudan. I urge the administration to go forward and choose an envoy in the way the Biden administration had chosen former Congressman Tom Perriello. Please choose an envoy that can represent the President. This is a conflict by which the President of the United States, with the enormous influence he has with countries in the gulf, could use that power to, frankly, cut off the aid that funds this civil war tomorrow.
partisan affiliation, we all ought to urge President Trump to make sure this conflict comes to an end so that, at the end of the day, the Sudanese people, whether they are in Sudan or are part of the diaspora around the world, can actually live in peace, have a government that reflects their needs, have a country that is blessed with lots of natural resources, and can actually enjoy the potential prosperity that was promised—that held out that hope—back in 2019 when young people overthrew the prior dictatorship. We should no longer allow this crisis to go unheard or unrecognized. Part of the problem is that, unfortunately, the country has barred a lot of the international press.
State in our country, to meet with those communities, to hear their stories, to hear their struggles.
warring factions. American leadership could bring this war to an end. It would go a great deal toward restoring people's trust around the world of the value of strong, moral American leadership.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.