The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden has imposed sanctions on the leaders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that RSF members and allied militias “have committed genocide” in Sudan. The paramilitary group has been locked in a brutal war with the Sudanese military, once its ally, since April 2023.
What did the Biden administration say?
The US sanctions announced by the Treasury Department, include RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti).
The US State Department said the sanctions against Hemedti were “for his role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people.”
The sanctions also target several businesses based in the United Arab Emirates, one of them handles gold likely smuggled out of Sudan.
The Arab country has faced repeated accusations of arming the RSF, which it has strenuously denied despite the evidence.
“The RSF and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys — even infants — on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence,” Blinken said in a statement on Tuesday.
He added that the rebel militias and their allies have also “targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.”
“Based on this information, I have now concluded that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan,” Blinken said.
How does the UN define genocide?
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted in December 1948, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
The ongoing fighting has killed tens of thousands of people, forcing millions to flee their homes. The United Nations says over 30 million people in Sudan are in need of aid. More than half this number are children.
rmt/wd (AFP, AP)
