The United States determined on Tuesday that members of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had "committed genocide" and imposed sanctions on the paramilitary group's leader.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the determination was based on information about the RSF's "systematic" murder of men and boys and the targeted rape of women and girls from certain ethnic groups.
In a statement, the US State Department said it was sanctioning Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, "for his role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people."
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted after World War II, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
Sudan has been torn apart and pushed towards famine by the war that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than eight million internally displaced, making Sudan the scene of the world's largest internal displacement crisis.
The United Nations says that more than 30 million people -- over half of them children -- are in need of aid in Sudan after 20 months of war.
The US Treasury Department unveiled its own sanctions against Hemedti on Tuesday, accusing the RSF of engaging in "a brutal armed conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces for control of Sudan."
It also designated an additional seven companies and one individual linked to the RSF.
With AFP
Comments