The European Union imposed sanctions on a top leader of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces group over “grave and ongoing atrocities” by his forces in the more than two-year war with the Sudanese army, including in the western Darfur region where they captured the army's last stronghold last month.
The measures announced Thursday against Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo follow similar sanctions against the Rapid Support Forces, the RSF group at war with the Sudanese army. The United States also imposed sanctions on Dagalo in September 2023, early on in the conflict.
Dagalo is the No. 2 in the RSF group and the brother of its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.
The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council said it imposed the measures against Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo over violations committed by his troops, including during last month's seizure of el-Fasher, a key city in Darfur, AFP reported.
“The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the grave and ongoing atrocities perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, including following the seizure of the city of el-Fasher,” it said.
“This sends a signal that the international community will come after those who are responsible,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters during a news conference on Thursday.
“The situation is deteriorating sharply,” Kallas said of the war, adding that the fall of el-Fasher “opened another devastating chapter in this war.”
There was no immediate reaction from the RSF, which had besieged el-Fasher for over 18 months before taking the city from the army and effectively seizing the entire Darfur region. The RSF attacks left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands to flee to overcrowded camps.
Anouar el-Anouni, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said that the EU is “escalating in terms of the chain” and that there is an increasing severity of measures against both sides of the conflict in Sudan.
“This is not a drop. This is part of a gradual approach and a progressive one,” el-Anouni added.
The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher.
The EU said deliberate targeting of civilians, ethnically motivated killings, systematic sexual and gender-based violence, starvation as a weapon of war and denying aid access all constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The RSF did not address the sanctions in a statement on its Telegram channel on Friday but said it welcomes international efforts for a ceasefire while claiming the military was the “true obstacle to achieving peace.”
Earlier this month, the RSF had agreed to a humanitarian truce proposed by a US-led mediator group but the military said it would only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and disarms.
