The siege and capture of the Sudanese city of El-Fasher was accompanied by atrocities that bore the “hallmarks of genocide,” a United Nations fact-finding mission reported Thursday.
The U.S. Treasury Department also announced sanctions against three commanders of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces who were involved in the El-Fasher operation.
The U.S. sanctions follow U.K. and EU sanctions on the same individuals in December and January. The U.N. said “the mass killings and related atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces … are indicators of a genocidal path.”
In a statement accompanying the announcement of U.S. sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States “will not tolerate this ongoing campaign of terror and senseless killing in Sudan.”
After capturing El-Fasher in October, the RSF declared a unilateral “humanitarian truce,” but as Yasir Zaidan predicted in a WPR briefing in November, that turned out to be a hollow promise.
“Past ceasefire agreements have consistently failed, with the RSF exploiting them to reorganize, solidify advantages and avoid accountability,” Zaidan wrote, adding that for diplomacy to be successful, “it will need to be accompanied by meaningful pressure.”
(WPR)
