Following the United Nations Security Council’s designation of two Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanders on November 8, the Treasury Department yesterday sanctioning RSF West Darfur Commander, Abdel Rahman Joma’a Barakallah.
The UN has designated both Barakallah and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed (Hamid) for their roles in leading the RSF as it carried out ethnic cleansing and committed human rights violations.
Barakallah is also subject to United States visa restrictions for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the kidnapping and killing of the lawful governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abbakar. The Treasury Department has already designated Hamid in May 2024.
Yesterday’s action is part of the United States’ persistent effort to support the Sudanese people and use the tools at its disposal to impose costs on those committing atrocities and perpetuating the conflict.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan, stated that the United States is deeply concerned about violent, lethal attacks on civilians by the RSF and the SAF.
“In Darfur, and more recently in al-Gezira, reports indicate an alarming rise in widespread, targeted, ethnically motivated killings and mass atrocities by the RSF.
“In the Khartoum area in particular, SAF aerial bombings on markets and public places, launched without any clear military objective, have killed large numbers of civilians.
“We know the gravity of the situation in Sudan. The indiscriminate death, by starvation and disease and shelling, and sheer scale of trauma that will haunt the Sudanese people forever.”
According to her, the United States has four primary calls to action. First, is for all conflicting parties to facilitate the flow of aid across all cross-border and cross-line routes, without exception.
She tasked all parties to help humanitarian agencies scale up operations, so that they can efficiently and effectively deliver aid to all corners of Sudan.
RSF was charged to lift any bureaucratic requirements for aid organisations moving throughout the Darfur area and conflicting parties were urged to avoid any actions that impede humanitarian operations.