Sudan’s military leaders built a stockpile of chemical weapons that they tried to conceal after chlorine bombs had been used against rebel forces, the Washington Post reported on 5 September. Videos, documents and intercepted communications portray a secretive Sudanese military unit said to have produced chlorine-based munitions for use against the paramilitary group fighting the army for control of the country, the New York Times added on the same day.
The allegations, attributed to unnamed Middle Eastern security and intelligence officials, have been denied by Sudan but are regarded as credible by Western observers. Although they deal with events in 2024 and sanctions were subsequently imposed by the United States, no action appears to have been taken to enforce Sudan’s obligations under an international treaty on chemical weapons that came into force nearly 30 years ago.
That shows the weakness of international law and, in particular, the United Nations as it is currently constituted, I was told last week by Santiago Oñate Laborde OBE (hon), a former Mexican politician, former ambassador of Mexico to the United Kingdom and former legal adviser to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons — the international body responsible for implementing the chemical weapons convention.
Oñate (pictured above) was speaking on A Lawyer Talks. My weekly podcast interview, as always, is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can listen to a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.
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