The United States accuses the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and affiliated militias in Sudan of genocide. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, under whose leadership the RSF has been fighting a bloody war with the government army for more than a year and a half, has been imposed with sanctions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this on Tuesday in a statement.
According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the RSF is repeatedly guilty of direct attacks on civilians. He speaks of the “systematic” killing of men and boys based on their ethnicity. Women and girls from certain ethnic groups fall prey to sexual violence.
The war, which broke out in April 2023 after a power conflict over the integration of the RSF into the government army, has now cost the lives of tens of thousands of people. At least 11 million people have been displaced. About half the population, some 26 million people, are currently facing famine.
The United Nations reported earlier this week that approximately 60 percent of the population needs help due to the twenty-month long conflict. Human rights organizations call it the largest humanitarian crisis on earth. Human Rights Watch stated in May already that there was genocide in Darfur, a region the size of France.
“The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities,” Blinken said. The sanctions mean that Dagalo is no longer allowed to enter the US and that any assets there may be frozen.
Although the RSF in particular are notorious for brutal violence, the government army has also been accused of war crimes. Blinken added in his statement that both warring sides “bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan” and both “lack the legitimacy” to govern Sudan peacefully.
The Americans have previously tried to mediate the civil war. That was difficult, but agreements have been made about access to humanitarian aid.
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