CAIRO, Egypt
The United States imposed sanctions Wednesday on a Sudanese paramilitary commander Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo over acts of violence and human rights abuses committed by his troops in their months long conflict with Sudan's army.
In a statement,
the U.S. Treasury said it had sanctioned Abdelrahim — a senior military
commander and brother of Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo who is the head of the
paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF— accusing him of leading a group of
soldiers responsible for “the massacre of civilians, ethnic killings, and use
of sexual violence.
According to Wednesday's
statement, the sanctions will block all U.S. property and entities owned by
Abdelrahim.
Wednesday’s sanction is the
first targeting an individual and made public by the U.S. since the conflict
broke out.
In a parallel statement, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said
Wednesday that the U.S. was also imposing visa restrictions on fellow RSF
commander, Abdul Rahman Juma, barring him from entering the country.
Blinken said forces led by Juma were likewise responsible for rights abuses, including the kidnap and murder of the former governor of West Darfur province, Khamis Abbakar, and his brother, in June.
Khamis was killed hours after he accused the paramilitary and
allied militias of attacking local communities across West Darfur's capital,
Genena, during a telephone interview with the Saudi-owned television station,
Al-Hadath.
In June, the U.S. imposed
sanctions against four key companies either linked to or owned by the army and
the RSF. It also placed visa restrictions on officials from both Sudanese
sides, as well as leaders from the former government led by ousted President
Omar al-Bashir. It did not specify which individuals were affected.
There was no immediate comment
from the RSF. A spokesman for the paramilitary force, when contacted by the
Associated Press, said they would send a written statement later today.
Last month, Amnesty
International said both sides have committed extensive war crimes in the
ongoing conflict.
Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the
U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, expressed concern at
ongoing “identity-based attacks” across the country.
“Innocent civilians are being
targeted on the basis of race” in Darfur, Nderitu said in a statement. These
attacks could amount to war crimes, she added.
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