The United States has imposed sanctions on a top commander of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Abdel Rahman Joma’a Barakallah, accusing him of orchestrating severe human rights abuses in West Darfur.
The US Treasury Department alleged that Barakallah directed violence against civilians and permitted conflict-related sexual violence and ethnically driven attacks as part of the RSF’s brutal campaign in the region.
Sudan remains engulfed in a conflict between the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), and Sudan’s army, under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
According to UN reports, RSF forces and allied Arab militias are responsible for the deaths of between 10,000 and 15,000 people in El-Geneina alone.
The Treasury’s action calls for both factions to pursue peace talks to safeguard civilians’ rights.