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US Senators Urge Biden to Impose Magnitsky Sanctions on Sudan's Hemedti

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo (Reuters)
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo (Reuters)
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US Senators Urge Biden to Impose Magnitsky Sanctions on Sudan's Hemedti

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo (Reuters)
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo (Reuters)

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has written an open letter to US President Joe Biden, calling on him to swiftly determine whether or not he intends to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act with respect to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its leader, General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, both accused of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

The letter was written by Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Benjamin Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“We jointly request a determination pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act of whether Sudan's RSF and its Commander have engaged in activity described in subsection of that Act, such as gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against human rights defenders and persons seeking to expose illegal activity by government officials,” the Senators said in the letter.

War Crimes

The bi-partisan letter, which follows the one-year anniversary of the war in Sudan between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), mentioned that on December 6, 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the RSF had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing since the outbreak of fighting in Sudan on April 15, 2023.

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act authorizes sanctions against foreign persons who commit gross violations of internationally recognized human rights against individuals seeking: to expose illegal activity carried out by government officials; or to obtain, exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights and freedoms.

“The actions of the RSF and Hemedti, including those described above, more than meet that threshold,” the Senators affirmed.

RSF’s Financial Networks

The Senators then urged Biden to examine the RSF’s financial networks and sources of revenue, such as gold smuggling, and relationships with Russia and Wagner Group, and to assess whether they are also deserving of sanction under the Magnitsky Act for acts of significant corruption by government officials in Sudan.

The letter mentioned that on September 6, 2023, the US Department of Treasury sanctioned Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, Hemedti's brother, as a leader of the RSF. It had also imposed visa restrictions on RSF General Abdul Rahman Juma.

It also stated that gunmen in RSF uniforms abducted and killed human rights activist and lawyer Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah and his colleague Adam Omer in Nyala, South Sudan, while Khamis Abdullah Abakar, the governor of West Darfur, was assassinated while he was in the custody of the RSF, just hours after he had criticized the RSF in a television interview, describing its actions as “genocide.”

In the letter, the Senators also said human rights lawyers, defenders, and democracy activists in El Geneina, West Darfur, faced targeted threats and killings by the RSF and allied militia, including Mohammed Ahmed Kudia, a member of the Darfur Network of Monitors, Khamis Arabab, a member of the Darfur Bar Association, Khidir Sulieman Abdelmageed, the head of the human rights organization Afkar, Abd Elrazeg Adam Mohammed, a member of the Darfur Network of Monitors, Tareg Hassan Yagoub Elmalik, a founding member of the Darfur Bar Association and El Sadeg Mohammed Ahmed Haroun, a member of the Darfur Bar Association who had filed cases against the RSF for its attacks on the Krinding IDP camp in 2021 and 2022.

Also, there have been numerous reported incidents of the RSF targeting journalists, the letter said, adding that the RSF arbitrarily detained dozens of civilians, including political activists.

Aid

On Friday, Senator Cardin delivered a speech on the Senate floor marking one year since the onset of civil war in Sudan, and called on the US and its international partners to ramp up humanitarian assistance for war-affected Sudanese and for impacted populations in surrounding countries.

Cardin also urged the House of Representatives to pass the national security supplemental without delay to bring needed aid to its partners around the world.

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Arab World

US Says Gaza ‘Phase Two’ Beginning with Goal of Hamas Demilitarization

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US Says Gaza ‘Phase Two’ Beginning with Goal of Hamas Demilitarization

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President Donald Trump's envoy said Wednesday that a plan to end the Gaza war was now moving to Phase Two with a goal of disarming Hamas, despite a number of Israeli strikes during the ceasefire.

"We are announcing the launch of Phase Two of the President's 20-Point Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction," envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on X.

The second phase will also include the setup of a 15-person Palestinian technocratic committee to administer post-war Gaza. Its formation was announced earlier Wednesday by Egypt, a mediator.

Phase Two "begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel."

"The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations, including the immediate return of the final deceased hostage. Failure to do so will bring serious consequences," he said.

Arab World

Lebanon Arrests Syrian Citizen Suspected of Funding Pro-Assad Fighters

A damaged portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad lies on the ground in the western Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 15, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
A damaged portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad lies on the ground in the western Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 15, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Lebanon Arrests Syrian Citizen Suspected of Funding Pro-Assad Fighters

A damaged portrait of Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad lies on the ground in the western Syrian port city of Latakia on Dec. 15, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Lebanese authorities have arrested a Syrian citizen who is suspected of sending money to fighters loyal to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, judicial officials said Wednesday.

Ahmad Dunia was detained in recent days in Lebanon’s region of Jbeil north of Beirut and is being questioned over alleged links to Assad’s maternal cousin Rami Makhlouf as well as a former Syrian army general who left the country after Assad’s fall in December 2024, the officials said.

The officials described Dunia as the “financial arm” of the wealthy Makhlouf, saying he had been sending money to former Assad supporters in Syria who work under the command of ousted Syrian general Suheil al-Hassan who is believed to be in Russia.

The officials said the money was mostly sent to pro-Assad fighters who are active in Syria’s coastal region, where many members of his Alawite minority sect live.

Allegations that Dunia was financing Assad allies was first reported by Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV. He was then arrested by Lebanese security forces, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The arrest came a week after a Syrian security delegation visited Beirut and handed over to officials in Lebanon lists of dozens of names of former members of Assad’s security agencies whom they said are directing anti-government operations in Syria from Lebanon. Dunia’s name was one of those on the list, the officials said.

Since Assad’s fall, there have been several skirmishes between his supporters and the country’s new authorities.

In March last year, violence that began with clashes between armed groups aligned with Assad and the new government’s security forces spiraled into sectarian revenge attacks and massacres that killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority.

Arab World

Sudan Peace Talks Resume in Cairo as War Nears 3-Year Mark

Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)
Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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Sudan Peace Talks Resume in Cairo as War Nears 3-Year Mark

Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)
Displaced women fill water at displaced persons camp in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, January 12, 2026. (Reuters)

Sudan peace efforts resumed in Cairo on Wednesday as Egypt, the United Nations and the United States called for the warring parties to agree to a nationwide humanitarian truce, as the war between the army and its rival paramilitary nears the three-year mark.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Egypt wouldn't accept the collapse of Sudan or its institutions, or any attempt to undermine its unity or divide its territory, describing such scenarios as “red lines.”

Abdelatty said during a joint news conference with Ramtane Lamamra, the UN secretary‑general’s personal envoy for Sudan, that Egypt won't stand idly and won't hesitate to take the necessary measures to help preserve Sudan’s unity.

″There is absolutely no room for recognizing parallel entities or any militias. Under no circumstances can we equate Sudanese state institutions, including the Sudanese army, with any other militias,” he said on the sidelines of the fifth meeting of the Consultative Mechanism to Enhance and Coordinate Peace Efforts.

Lamamra said that the fifth such meeting demonstrated that diplomacy remains a viable path toward peace.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and the military have been at war since April 2023. The conflict that has seen multiple atrocities and pushed Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Although repeated attempts at peace talks have failed to end the war, Abdelatty said that there's a regional agreement to secure an immediate humanitarian truce, including certain withdrawals and the establishment of safe humanitarian corridors.

Humanitarian aid Massad Boulos, the US senior adviser for Arab and African Affairs, said Wednesday that more than 1.3 metric tons of humanitarian supplies entered el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on Wednesday, with the help of American-led negotiations, marking the first such delivery since the city was besieged 18 months ago.

“As we press the warring parties for a nationwide humanitarian truce, we will continue to support mechanisms to facilitate the unhindered delivery of assistance to areas suffering from famine, malnutrition, and conflict-driven displacement,” Boulos posted on X.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed with Boulos the need to increase coordination between both countries to achieve stability in Sudan, with Sisi expressing appreciation to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war.

US and key mediators Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, known as the Quad, proposed a humanitarian truce, which both sides reportedly agreed to, but the conflict has persisted.

“The President emphasized that Egypt will not allow such actions, given the deep connection between the national security of both brotherly countries,” the Egyptian president’s office said in a statement.

The United States has accused the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur during the war, and rights groups said that the paramilitary group committed war crimes during the siege and takeover of el-Fasher, as well as in the capture of other cities in Darfur. The military has also been accused of human rights violations.

Latest wave of violence

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said on Tuesday that at least 19 civilians were killed during ground operations in Jarjira in North Darfur on Monday.

A military-allied Darfur rebel group said that it carried out a joint military operation with the army in Jarjira, saying that the operation liberated the area and its surroundings and forced RSF fighters to flee south.

At least 10 others were killed and nine others injured, also on Monday, in a drone attack that hit Sinja, the capital city of Sennar province, according to OCHA and the Sudan Doctors Network.

Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement that the drone strike was launched by the RSF and hit several areas in the city, describing the attack as the latest crime added “to the long list of grave violations against civilians.”

The group said that civilians are being deliberately targeted in a “full-fledged war crime.”

The Sudan Doctors Network also said that it “holds the Rapid Support Forces fully responsible for this crime and demands an end to their targeting of civilians and the protection of civilian infrastructure.”

Recent violence displaced more than 8,000 people from villages in North Darfur, with some fleeing to safer areas within the province and others crossing into Chad, according to the latest estimate by the International Organization for Migration.