Source: Anadolu / Getty
The United States declared that the rebel forces in Sudan are carrying out genocide and have announced sanctions against its leader.
On Tuesday (Jan. 7), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the nation was imposing economic sanctions on the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemediti. “In December 2023, I concluded that members of the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) and the RSF had committed war crimes. I also determined that members of the RSF and allied Arab militias had committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing,” Blinken said in a statement, adding that the RSF and their allies were responsible for the murders of “men and boys – even infants” in addition to numerous sexual assaults on women during the now 20-month long civil conflict. “Both belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to govern a future peaceful Sudan,” Blinken said.
After reviewing the horrifying information of suffering inside Sudan, I have concluded that members of the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan. The United States is committed to pursuing accountability for these atrocities.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 7, 2025
The economic sanctions levied against the RSF target seven businesses based in the United Arab Emirates. Almost all of the businesses are connected to the gold trade, according to reporting by the BBC. Hemediti and the RSF have obtained control of half of the country of Sudan, which includes the lucrative mine in Jebel Abel in North Darfur as well as others along the country’s border with the Central African Republic. The sanctions are also extended to cover Hemediti’s brothers, Algoney and Abdel Rahim, preventing them and their families from entering the United States.
The UAE has strongly denied any involvement in the Sudanese civil war. “The decision… expresses the failure of the [US President Joe] Biden administration to deal with the Sudanese crisis and the double standards it followed [with regards to the crisis],” wrote El-Basha Tbaeq, an adviser to Hemediti in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The news comes months after international bodies such as The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) have recorded the rise of famine throughout the Sudan.
The U.S. State Department’s report concurred, stating that “638,000 Sudanese” were “experiencing the worst famine in Sudan’s recent history, over 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and tens of thousands dead.” According to the United Nations, 14 million have been displaced and over 24,000 have been killed in the fighting.
