The European Union on Thursday against Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, the second in command of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces. File Photo by European Union/EP/UPI | License Photo
The European Union has sanctioned the deputy leader of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces as the paramilitary group’s bloody civil war against the country’s military nears three years old.
The RSF has been waging war against the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 15, 2023. Both sides have been accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, though the RSF has also been accused of committing ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo is the second in command of the RSF, which his brother, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leads.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, announced the sanctions against Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo in a statement, condemning atrocities committed by the RSF in Sudan, but in particular following its seizure of the North Darfur city of El Fasher.
“Deliberate targeting of civilians, ethnically motivated killings, systematic sexual and gender-based violence, starvation as a method of warfare and denying access for humanitarian aid are serious breaches of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” she said.
“The EU stands ready to impose any further restrictive measure where further appropriate, on all actors responsible for destabilizing Sudan and obstructing its political transition.”
The RSF was a powerful mostly independent paramilitary force under the SAF, and together overthrew the country’s three-decade dictator in a civilian-backed coup in 2019. The civil war broke out between the two forces in April of 2023 as infighting over Sudan’s transition to democracy turned violent.
About 12 million people have been displaced in Sudan by the fighting, according to United Nations statistics, and while a death toll is unknown, estimates put it as high as hundreds of thousands.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters Thursday that more than 100,000 people had fled El Fasher and the surrounding areas since Oct. 26, when the RSF took over.
Many remain unaccounted for, he said.
“Those who escaped El Fasher are arriving at displacement sites where conditions are — as you can only imagine — extremely dire and the scale of needs is massive,” he said.
Doctors Without Borders is present in El Fasher, where it said in one night it screened 70 children arriving in the city — all were suffering from acute malnutrition.
“After 500 days of siege, families are eating animal feed. We need safe passage now,” it said in a Thursday statement on X.
Tom Fletcher, the U.N. under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, described Darfur as “an absolute horror show” on Wednesday. He said it was “the epicenter of human suffering in the world.”
“El Fasher, based on the testimonies I heard from many survivors, is basically a crime scene,” he said in a recorded statement. “The deliberate attacks on civilians … must stop and we want those who commit these crimes to face justice.”
