US sanctions Sudanese paramilitary commanders over al-Fashir killings

The United States imposed sanctions on three commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for their role in the 18-month siege and capture of al-Fashir, accusing the group of committing systematic and widespread killings, Reuters reports.

In a statement, the US Treasury Department said the RSF carried out “a horrific campaign of ethnic killings, torture, starvation, and sexual violence” during the siege and subsequent capture of the city in October 2025.

The Treasury said that once al-Fashir fell to RSF forces, fighters accelerated systematic killings, detentions, and sexual violence, leaving civilians with “no survivor… unharmed.” The department also accused the RSF of attempting to destroy evidence of mass killings by burying, burning, and disposing of tens of thousands of bodies.

More than 100,000 people are estimated to have fled al-Fashir since the RSF took control, after an 18-month siege that caused widespread famine. Survivors reported ethnically motivated mass killings and detentions, and many remain unaccounted for in the city and surrounding areas.

“The United States calls on the Rapid Support Forces to commit to a humanitarian ceasefire immediately. We will not tolerate this ongoing campaign of terror and senseless killing in Sudan,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

The sanctions target an RSF brigadier general accused of filming himself killing unarmed civilians, as well as a major general and an RSF field commander.

By Vafa Guliyeva