US imposes sanctions on commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group

By Daphne Psaledakis

February 19 (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for their role in the 18-month siege and capture of Al-Fashir, accusing the group of carrying out systematic and widespread killings.

In a statement announcing the sanctions, the US Treasury Department accused RSF of waging “a horrific campaign of ethnic murder, torture, starvation and sexual violence” during the siege and capture of al-Fashir.

Al-Fashir in Darfur fell to RSF forces in October 2025 after a long siege that led to mass killings.

Following the capture of the city in October, RSF fighters stepped up systematic and widespread killings, detentions and sexual violence, leaving no survivors, including civilians, unharmed, the Treasury said. The Treasury accused the group of waging a systematic campaign to destroy evidence of mass killings by burying, burning and destroying tens of thousands of bodies.

More than 100,000 people are estimated to have fled Al-Fashir since late October after paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control following an 18-month siege that plunged the city into famine.

Survivors reported ethnically motivated mass killings and widespread detentions during and after the takeover. The names of many people in Al-Fashir and its surroundings are unknown.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, “The United States calls on Rapid Support Forces to immediately declare a humanitarian ceasefire. We will not tolerate this ongoing campaign of terror and senseless murder in Sudan.”

Those targeted by the Treasury on Thursday included an RSF brigadier general who, the ministry said, filmed himself killing unarmed civilians, as well as a major general and an RSF field commander.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Caitlin Webber)