President Joe Biden issued an executive order authorizing sanctions against Sudan, declaring that the fighting must stop.
The violence, according to Mr. Biden, is a tragedy and a betrayal of the Sudanese people.
He called the violence in Sudan an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States’ national security and foreign policy.”
Earlier, Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, told a US Senate committee that the conflict was likely to last a long time because both sides believed they could win militarily and had few incentives to negotiate.
The most recent ceasefire has failed to hold, with heavy fighting continuing in Khartoum and the neighboring cities of Omdurman and Bahri.
According to the World Food Programme, more than $13 million (£10.3 million) in food aid destined for Sudan has been looted since fighting erupted last month.
According to the World Food Programme, pillaging is widespread in the country.
Unicef, the UN children’s agency, warned that the situation was teetering on disaster, with children increasingly caught in the crossfire.
