Sudanese Paramilitary Group Committed Genocide, U.S. Says

Source: NYT

The United States declared on Tuesday that a genocide took place in Sudan, drawing fresh attention to the scale of atrocities in Africa’s largest war and singling out one side in the conflict as the perpetrators of some of the worst violence.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s military in a bitter civil war, and allied militias had committed acts of genocide during a fearsome wave of ethnically targeted violence in the western region of Darfur.

The Treasury Department announced a raft of financial measures intended to support the genocide determination, including sanctions that personally target the R.S.F.’s leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, as well as seven companies in the United Arab Emirates, the R.S.F.’s main foreign sponsor.

“The R.S.F. 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,” Mr. Blinken said in a statement. “Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/world/africa/sudan-rsf-genocide-us-sanctions.html