The United States is preparing to issue sanctions on individuals and entities it considers responsible for perpetrating civil unrest in Sudan.

The fighting between rival warlords in Sudan “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” said President Joe Biden in an executive order issued Thursday.

The order will expand the U.S. sanctions already in place against individuals and entities in Sudan through executive orders issued in 1997 and 2006, although some sanctions were subsequently rolled back.

Sudan’s military seized power of the country in October 2021, and fighting between rival groups escalated in April.

The executive order said the Secretary of State and Treasury Secretary will determine which people and groups it deems “to be responsible for, or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in” attempts to disrupt the peace, security, and stability of Sudan. Sanctions will be imposed on those who conspire to obstruct the formation or operation of a civilian government and its democratic institutions or engage in human rights abuses, money laundering, corruption, and other illicit activities.

Those deemed responsible will be levied with sanctions, as well as their associates and close family members.

Sudan is a separate country from South Sudan, which gained independence in July 2011.

Aaron Nicodemus covers regulatory policy and compliance trends for Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass.

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