Daphne Psaledakis
Feb 19 (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for their role in the 18-month siege and capture of Fasher, accusing the group of systematic and widespread killings.
In a statement announcing the sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department accused SSF of carrying out “a horrific campaign of genocide, torture, starvation and sexual violence” during the siege and occupation of El Fasher.
El Fasher in Darfur fell to Doctors Without Borders in October 2025 after a long siege that resulted in mass killings.
The Treasury said that after the city was seized in October, Médecins Sans Frontières militants accelerated systematic and widespread killings, detentions and sexual violence, leaving no survivors, including civilians, safe and sound. The Treasury Department accused the group of engaging in a systematic campaign 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 El Fasher since the end of October after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched an 18-month siege that plunged the city into famine.
Survivors reported racially motivated mass killings and widespread internment during and after the takeover. Many people are still missing in El Fasher and surrounding areas.
“The United States calls on the Rapid Support Forces to immediately commit to a humanitarian ceasefire. We will not tolerate the ongoing terror and senseless killings in Sudan,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said in a statement.
Among those targeted by the Treasury Department on Thursday were a MSF brigadier general who the ministry said filmed himself killing unarmed civilians, as well as a major general and MSF field commander.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Caitlin Weber)