US senators name on Biden to sanction Sudan’s RSF over human rights abuses | Human Rights Information

Lawmakers say Hemedti’s and the RSF’s actions and abuses make them deserving of sanctions from the US.

United States senators have written an open letter to US President Joe Biden, calling on him to recognise Sudan’s Fast Help Forces (RSF) and its chief, Normal Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, as violators of human rights.

The letter, dated Friday, follows the one-year anniversary of the battle in Sudan between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), two rival navy factions combating for management of the nation after a coup in 2021.

The lawmakers cite the US’s World Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act as a foundation for sanctions, including that the RSF and Hemedti’s actions embrace “gross violations of internationally acknowledged human rights dedicated towards human rights defenders and individuals in search of to show criminal activity by authorities officers”.

The lawmakers have given Biden 120 days to behave on the request.

The letter lists human rights abuses in Sudan, akin to accounts of rape, extrajudicial killings, and concentrating on of journalists, together with when Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Fadl and Rashid Gibril have been detained and overwhelmed up in Khartoum.

Moreover, it makes reference to a December 2023 assertion from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the RSF had dedicated “battle crimes, crimes towards humanity, and ethnic cleaning” because the outbreak of the battle final April.

The lawmakers additionally known as on Biden to analyze the actions of the RSF to find out additional sanctions that could be warranted.

“We ask that you just additionally look at the RSF’s monetary networks and sources of income, akin to gold smuggling, and relationships with the Russian Federation and Wagner Group, to evaluate whether or not they’re additionally deserving of sanction beneath the World Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for acts of serious corruption by authorities officers.”

The US Division of the Treasury imposed comparable penalties in September 2023, mentioned the senators.

This contains sanctions towards Hemedti’s brother and visa restrictions on RSF Normal Abdul Rahman Juma over the group’s violent actions, together with “focused abuses towards human rights activists and defenders”, in response to the US Division of State.

The letter was introduced ahead by US Senators Ben Cardin and Jim Risch, who serve, respectively, as chair and as a rating member of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee; and by US Representatives Michael McCaul and Gregory Meeks, chair and rating member of the Home Overseas Affairs Committee.

The RSF and SAF have each been accused of attacking civilians and blocking humanitarian support entry over the previous 12 months. Ceasefire agreements have collapsed a number of occasions and worldwide mediators are nonetheless working to attain conclusive peace talks.

Sudan has been left with a serious humanitarian disaster whereas almost eight million individuals are displaced and dealing with shortages of meals, water, and medical provides.