US accuses Sudan rebels of genocide, sanctions chief

What happened

The U.S. State Department declared Tuesday that the Sudanese paramilitary army the Rapid Support Forces has committed genocide in its bloody civil war against Sudan's military. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against RSF chief Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly called Hemedti, and seven RSF-linked companies in the United Arab Emirates, the rebels' main foreign backer.

Who said what

"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," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The genocide designation was a "sharp departure from U.S. policy that has treated both sides as equally culpable for one of the world's most brutal conflicts," which "erupted" in 2023, The Washington Post said. This was only the seventh time the U.S. has declared a genocide, including in Sudan's Darfur region. That 2004 genocide was blamed on an RSF precursor, the Janjaweed.

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What next?

America's genocide designation will likely "spark greater scrutiny of the RSF affiliates and foreign suppliers," The Wall Street Journal said. The finding "does not oblige the U.S. to take action," The New York Times said, but paired with the sanctions it will restrict Hemedti's "ability to travel, use the international financial system or present himself as a champion of democratic ambitions, as he has often done."