US accuses Sudan’s RSF of genocide and sanctions its chief Mohamed Dagalo
The US has accused the Sudanese paramilitary Fast Help Forces (RSF) of committing genocide and imposed sanctions on its chief.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday mentioned Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, often known as Hemedti, was being punished for his position in “systematic” atrocities towards the Sudanese folks through the 20-month battle.
He mentioned the RSF and allied militias had been accountable for the homicide of “males and boys – even infants”, in addition to brutal sexual violence towards girls on ethnic grounds.
The militias have additionally focused fleeing civilians and murdered harmless folks escaping the battle, Blinken mentioned.
“Based mostly on this data, I’ve now concluded that members of the RSF and allied militias have dedicated genocide in Sudan,” he mentioned.
In response, the RSF has accused the US of double requirements and for failing to successfully handle the continuing disaster.
“The choice… expresses the failure of the [US President Joe] Biden administration to cope with the Sudanese disaster and the double requirements it adopted [with regards to the crisis],” Hemedti’s adviser, El-Basha Tbaeq, mentioned in a publish on his X account.
He added that this may increasingly complicate the Sudanese disaster and hinder negotiations to deal with the basis causes of the battle.
The RSF has been preventing the Sudanese navy since April 2023, and there was a rising outcry about its conduct through the conflict.
The US had beforehand decided that the RSF and different militias had engaged in conflict crimes, crimes towards humanity, and ethnic cleaning within the western Darfur area, the place the group has been accused of focusing on and killing non-Arabs.
Either side have been accused of atrocities, with the battle resulting in one of many world’s worst humanitarian crises.
In Might, US particular envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello mentioned that some estimates steered as much as 150,000 folks had been killed within the battle.
Famine has been declared in a number of components of the nation, with 24.6 million folks – about half the inhabitants – in pressing want of meals support, in line with consultants.
Blinken mentioned neither the RSF nor Sudan’s navy had been match to control Sudan.
“Each belligerents bear accountability for the violence and struggling in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to control a future peaceable Sudan,” he mentioned.
The sanctions bar Hemedti and his quick relations from visiting the US, and any private property there are blocked.
Seven RSF-owned firms primarily based within the United Arab Emirates and one different particular person are additionally being sanctioned for serving to the paramilitary group procure weapons.
