U.S. sanctions RSF commander for West Darfur over attacks on civilians

Nov. 13 (UPI) — The Biden administration has sanctioned the West Darfur commander of the Rapid Support Forces on accusations that troops under his control have been responsible for violence targeting civilians, including sexual and ethnically motivated attacks.

The breakaway RSF and the Sudan Defense Force have been waging a bloody civil war since April of 2023, resulting in at least 20,000 deaths.

In West Darfur, the RSF and aligned militias have been accused of killing thousands of people and committing ethnic cleansing amid the war. They have been accused of conducting targeted killings, including that of West Darfur’s governor in June of 2023, as well as using heavy artillery in populated areas.

The RSF’s commander in the region, Abdel Rahman Joma’a Barakallah, who is believed to be 55 years old, was blacklisted Tuesday by the U.S. Treasury, which said he played “a key role” in the brutal kidnapping and killing of Gov. Khamis Abbakar, for which he was previously hit with U.S. visa restrictions.

“As a major general and commander, Barakallah is responsible for the RSF’s activities in the region and the terror unleashed on the local population,” the U.S. Treasury said in a statement.

The sanctions came amid mounting concerns about the escalating conflict.

Days earlier, the U.S. Security Council hit Barkalla with its own sanctions, along with RSR commander Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, whom the United States sanctioned in May.

The United States has repeatedly imposed sanctions against both sides of the conflict as it presses for an end to the fighting, which began April 15, 2023, following years of instability and political infighting after the fall of the African nation’s former three-decade dictator government of President Omar al-Bashir in a civilian-backed coup in 2019.

Since the war began, the country has devolved into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. According to statistics from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 8.16 million people have been internally displaced since the fighting began, with another 3 million having fled the country, including more than 700,000 to Chad alone.

The United States has accused both the RSF and the SDF of committing war crimes amid the fighting.