WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday it has determined that Sudan’s paramilitary group and its proxies are committing genocide in the country’s civil war and that it has imposed sanctions on the group’s leader and affiliated companies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the conflict, which is considered the world’s biggest current humanitarian catastrophe, had escalated beyond a war crimes and ethnic cleansing determination he made in December 2023.
Blinken said that based on more recent reporting, he found that the Rapid Support Forces group is committing genocide. His statement was accompanied by a Treasury Department announcement that RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, also known as Hemedti, had been targeted for sanctions as well as seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates.
“The RSF and RSF-aligned militias have continued to direct attacks against civilians,” Blinken said. “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.”
“Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies,” he said.
Sudan’s war began in April 2023, when the RSF and Sudan’s military began fighting each other. Their conflict has killed more than 24,000 people, has forced millions to flee their homes and has left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.
Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the war.
The sanctions announced by the U.S. include several businesses based in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula, including one handling gold likely smuggled out of Sudan.
The UAE has been repeatedly accused of arming the RSF, something the UAE has strenuously denied despite evidence to the contrary.
Emirati officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night. The RSF could not be immediately reached for comment.
Blinken said his determination was not intended to support either side in the conflict but rather to promote accountability for war crimes and other atrocities.
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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.
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