US says Sudan's rebels committed genocide and sanctions leaders
The US determined Tuesday that members of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed genocide in Sudan and it imposed sanctions on the group’s leader.
The United States determined Tuesday that members of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and it imposed sanctions on the group’s leader over a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
The moves deal a blow to the RSF’s attempts to burnish its image and assert legitimacy — including by installing a civilian government- as the paramilitary group seeks to expand its territory beyond the roughly half of the country it currently controls.
The RSF rejected the measures.
“America previously punished the great African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, which was wrong. Today, it is rewarding those who started the war by punishing (RSF leader) General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, which is also wrong,” said an RSF spokesman when reached for comment.
The war in Sudan has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. It has also carried out mass looting campaigns across swathes of the country, arbitrarily killing and sexually assaulting civilians in the process.
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