US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was committed to “holding those responsible for these atrocities accountable.”
The United States has determined that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan and announced sanctions against the group’s leader.
In a statement on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the RSF had carried out direct attacks on civilians and systematically murdered men and boys based on their ethnicity.
He also accused the group of raping women and girls based on their ethnicity and using other forms of sexual violence.
“The United States is committed to holding those responsible for these atrocities accountable,” Blinken said.
A brutal war between the Sudanese military and the RSF rebel group has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million domestically over the past 18 months.
Thousands have also been killed by conflict-related causes such as disease and starvation, according to a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“The RSF and RSF-affiliated militias have continued to carry out targeted attacks against civilians,” Blinken said.
“The same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdered innocent people fleeing the conflict, and denied remaining civilians access to life-saving supplies.”
The US Treasury Department also announced sanctions against RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The sanctions ban him from traveling to the United States and freeze any U.S.-based assets he may own.
International organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) are having difficulty gaining access to areas in Sudan where civilians are struggling to survive amid shortages of food and other essential supplies.
“Malnourished children and mothers are dying because they lack access to health care, and cholera is spreading in many parts of the country,” Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director, said at a press conference in October.
The United Nations has also said that countries supplying weapons to the RSF and the Sudanese army, both of which have reportedly committed atrocities, are “enabling the massacre” and that arms supplies must stop.
The Sudanese government has said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is arming the RSF, a claim the Gulf state has rejected.
The US Treasury Department said in a press release on Tuesday that sanctions would also be imposed on seven RSF-owned companies based in the United Arab Emirates.
In recent months, the United States itself has been accused of abetting serious human rights violations, including genocide, in the Gaza Strip.
There, its ally Israel, backed by U.S. military aid, waged a military campaign that killed 45,885 Palestinians. The US has denied that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
