The UN Security Council has unanimously voted to extend the existing arms embargo on Sudan's western Darfur region (the site of a devastating conflict that began in 2003) by one month, buying time for negotiations over a controversial US proposal to expand the ban across the entire country. Washington argues the current sanctions regime is more than two decades out of date and insufficient to address an ongoing war that has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced 13 million, and pushed parts of Sudan into famine since fighting broke out in April 2023. Russia, which backs Sudan's government against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and holds a veto on the council, has firmly rejected any expansion of the embargo, while Sudan's UN ambassador argued a nationwide ban would violate the country's right to self-defence under the UN Charter.