The United States has accused Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries of committing genocide and imposed sanctions on their leader.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, was being punished for his role in “systematic” atrocities against the Sudanese people during the 20-month conflict.
He said the RSF and allied militias were responsible for the killing of “men and boys, even infants,” as well as brutal sexual violence against women on ethnic grounds.
The militias also targeted fleeing civilians and murdered innocent people fleeing the conflict, Blinken said.
“Based on this information, I now come to the conclusion that members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan,” he said.
In response, RSF accused the United States of showing double standards and failing to effectively resolve the current crisis.
“The decision…expresses the failure of [US President Joe] The Biden administration must confront the Sudan crisis and the double standards it has followed [with regards to the crisis]” said Hemedti’s advisor, El-Basha Tbaeq, in a message on his X account.
He added that this could complicate the Sudanese crisis and hamper negotiations aimed at tackling the root causes of the conflict.
The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army since April 2023, and there has been growing outcry over its conduct during the war.
The United States previously determined that the RSF and other militias were guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in the western region of Darfur, where the group has been accused of targeting and killing non-Arabs.
Both sides have been accused of atrocities, with the conflict leading to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
In May, the US special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, said some estimates suggested up to 150,000 people had been killed in the conflict.
Famine has been declared in several parts of the country, with 24.6 million people – about half the population – in urgent need of food aid, experts say.
Blinken said neither the RSF nor the Sudanese army were fit to govern Sudan.
“Both belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to govern a peaceful future Sudan,” he said.
The sanctions prohibit Hemedti and his immediate family members from traveling to the United States, and all personal property is blocked there.
Seven companies belonging to RSF and based in the United Arab Emirates, as well as another individual, are also sanctioned for having helped the paramilitary group obtain weapons. The UAE has denied numerous accusations that it funds and arms the RSF.
Almost all of the sanctioned companies are linked to the gold trade. One of them, AZ Gold, imports gold from Sudan and then resells it.
The US Treasury said in a statement that one of Hemedti’s brothers, Algoney, had access to AZ Gold’s bank account in the United Arab Emirates, which held millions of dollars.
Hemedti and the RSF controlled some of the country’s most lucrative gold mines, at Jebel Amer, in North Darfur, and now reportedly control others at Songo, near the border with the Central African Republic, as well as the other side of the border.
Hemedti’s sanction means that all three Dagalo brothers, including his deputy Abdel Rahim and his younger brother and procurement chief Algoney, are now under US sanctions.
The United States has been criticized for not doing enough to end the conflict in Sudan, despite its involvement in the 2023 Jeddah talks and, more recently, in the Aligned Group talks to advance the rescue and Peace in Sudan (ALPS). intervention by the outgoing Biden administration.
The designation could receive bipartisan support in Congress and signal to the new Donald Trump administration how the United States now views the RSF.
Hemedti is known to have no assets in the United States, but the genocide designation will impact all of RSF’s business arms.
US actions may not have an immediate effect on the fighting on the ground, but they will certainly increase pressure on regional donors to distance themselves and be wary of business dealings with RSF.
It could also complicate any attempt to establish an administration in territories controlled by RSF.
The RSF controls around 50% of the country, including almost all of Darfur, Khartoum and other areas south of the capital, while the army has been forced to move towards Port Sudan in the east .
It is unclear whether the designation will spark renewed interest in ceasefire negotiations. Recently, the Sudanese military hinted that it would accept Turkish mediation with the United Arab Emirates over the conflict.
