Jan. 17 (UPI) — The United States has sanctioned the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, accusing Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of destabilizing the war-torn Northeast African nation and undermining peace efforts.
Burhan and his Sudanese Armed Forces have been at war with Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa and his breakaway Rapid Support Forces since April of 2023, killing tens of thousands of people, displacing millions and creating the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.
The Biden administration has responded to the war with sanctions, and attempted to lead cease-fire negotiations this summer, which Burhan, 64, refused to participate in.
The United States has also been warning since December of 2023 that both parties were committing war crimes.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Thursday announcing the sanctions that since making that war crimes declaration more than year ago, SAF has continued to commit atrocities under Burhan — atrocities that include targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, as well as executing civilians.
“The SAF’s use of food deprivation as a tactic of war and its deliberate obstruction of the free flow of emergency humanitarian air to millions of Sudanese in desperate need have contributed to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, leaving over 25 million Sudanese facing acute food insecurity and over 600,000 experiencing famine,” Blinken said.
He also mentioned Burhan’s repeated refusals to participate in cease-fire negotiations that were planned for Switzerland in August, which the RSF agreed to, as justification for the punitive measures.
The Treasury on Thursday also sanctioned Sudanese-Ukrainian national Ahmad Abdalla, 46, an official of the SAF’s primary procurement arm, Defense Industries System, as well as his Hong Kong-based Portex Trade company.
The United States blacklisted the Defense Industries System in June of 2023. Since then, Abdalla has tried to illegally secure weapons and equipment for the SAF through what the Treasury called “unofficials means.”
The sanctions block all property and interests in property of those named while barring U.S. persons from doing business with them. The measures effectively cut those designate off from the U.S. financial system.
The Thursday announcement comes less that two weeks after Blinken hit Mohammad Hamdan with sanctions while declaring that his RSF was committing genocide.
Blinken said Thursday that the sanctions against both warring leaders underscores “the U.S. view that either man is fit to govern a future, peaceful Sudan.”
The civil war broke out as Sudan teetered on the precipice of war and security since the military ousted the nation’s former three-decade dictator, Omar al-Bashir, in a civilian-backed coup in 2019.
As the country crawled toward establishing a democratic government, Burhan and his then-deputy, Mohammad Hamdan, executed another coup, but infighting between them over control of Sudan erupted into full-blown conflict on April 15, 2023.
“The United States remains committed to holding accountable those responsible for atrocities committed in Sudan and to supporting a democratic, civilian transition,” Blinken said.
