US says Sudan’s RSF committed genocide, announces sanctions on leaders 

The United States has determined that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan, announcing sanctions targeting the group’s leader.

In a statement on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the RSF has carried out direct attacks on civilians and systematically murdered men and boys because of their ethnicity.

He also accused the group of using rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls because of their ethnicity.

“The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities,” Blinken said.

A brutal war between Sudan’s military and the rebel RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million internally over the last 18 months.

Thousands have also been killed through conflict-related causes such as illness and starvation, according to a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“The RSF and RSF-aligned militias have continued to direct attacks against civilians,” Blinken said.

“Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.”

The US Treasury Department also announced sanctions against RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The sanctions bar him from travelling to the US and freeze any US-based assets he may have.

International organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have struggled to access areas of Sudan where civilians are struggling to survive amid shortages of food and other critical goods.

“Malnourished children and mothers are dying due to lack of access to care, and cholera is spreading in many parts of the country,” WHO’s regional director Hanan Balkhy said at a media briefing in October.

The United Nations has also said that countries providing weapons to the RSF and Sudanese army, both of which are reported to have committed atrocities, are “enabling the slaughter” and that arms supplies must be cut off.

The Sudanese government has said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is arming the RSF, an allegation the Gulf nation has denied.

The US Treasury Department said in a release on Tuesday that sanctions were also being applied to seven RSF-owned companies located in the UAE.

In recent months, the US itself has been accused of facilitating severe human rights abuses, including genocide, in the Gaza Strip.

There, its ally Israel has carried out a military campaign that has killed 45,885 Palestinians, supported by US military aid. The US has denied that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.