On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing genocide in Sudan’s Civil War and announced sanctions on RSF’s leader, Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, known as Hemedti.
Since war broke out between Hemedti’s RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in April 2023, at least tens of thousands have been killed, and millions are facing acute food shortages, with an estimated 638,000 already facing famine.
Atrocities have been committed by both sides, and Blinken said he previously determined both the RSF and SAF had “committed war crimes.” The RSF and allied militias have also been accused of carrying out massacres of civilians.
“The RSF and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys—even infants—on an ethnic basis and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence,” Blinken said.
He said the US was targeting Hemedti with sanctions for “his role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people” and “sanctioning seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates and one individual for their roles in procuring weapons for the RSF.”
The UAE has been covertly shipping weapons to the RSF, but that hasn’t stopped the Biden administration from pushing forward major arms sales to Abu Dhabi.
Blinken’s declaration that the RSF is committing genocide comes as he and other Biden administration officials are vehemently denying that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza despite that becoming the consensus of leading human rights organizations.
By supplying Israel with weapons and providing political support, the US has enabled the mass slaughter of Palestinian women and children, including many infants, the systematic targeting of hospitals, a starvation blockade, and the demolition of entire cities to achieve ethnic cleansing. Palestinians detained by the Israeli military have also faced rape and torture.
