The United States determined Tuesday that members of the Sudan Rapid Support Forces and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and imposed sanctions on the group’s leader over a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions of people to leave their homes.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the RSF and aligned militias had continued to direct attacks against civilians, adding that they had systematically murdered men and boys on an ethnic basis and that they had deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and rape. other forms of sexual violence.
The militias also targeted fleeing civilians and murdered innocent people fleeing the conflict, Blinken said.
“The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities,” Blinken said.
Washington announced sanctions against RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, banning him from traveling to the United States and freezing any American assets he may hold.
“For nearly two years, Hemedti’s RSF has engaged in a brutal armed conflict with the Sudanese armed forces for control of Sudan, killing tens of thousands of people, displacing 12 million Sudanese and triggering widespread famine,” the Treasury Department said in a separate statement.
Sudan’s army and paramilitary rapid support forces have been in conflict for more than 18 months, creating a humanitarian crisis in which U.N. agencies are struggling to deliver relief.
The war broke out in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese armed forces and the RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule.