UN Sanctions Sudan Generals for Darfur Atrocities

The United Nations Security Council has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on two senior generals of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in response to actions described as "war crimes" and violence against civilians during the RSF's current battle with the Sudanese military. Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, who heads RSF operations, and Major General Abdel Rahman Juma Barkalla, the RSF's West Darfur commander - have both been subjected to travel bans and asset freezes within UN member states.

Background on Conflict in Sudan

Sudan has been caught up in a brutal conflict since April 2023 between the armed forces of the country and RSF, which is a paramilitary force originating from the Janjaweed militia accused of war crimes during the early noughties. The Janjaweed, initially raised to quash insurgencies in Darfur, carried out what is considered genocide against non-Arab groups, resulting in a death toll of 300,000 with millions of people displaced from their homes. The present clashes, which erupted when tensions boiled into street fighting in Khartoum on April 15 and then spread across the national territory, have refueled old animosities in Darfur — now fully controlled by RSF forces over four of its five state capitals. UN estimates say this conflict has turned into a bloody one that killed more than 14,000 people who left 33,000 injured (famine fears rise amid mass displacement and resources destruction).

Generals Osman Mohamed and Abdel Rahman Juma: The Two Faces of the Conflict

Britain's U.N. Mission said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that "both generals are repeating the cycle of violence and destruction in Sudan." International concern escalated with reports of targeted ethnic violence, particularly against the Masalit and other non-Arab groups in El Geneina, West Darfur. Last week, Human Rights Watch described previous RSF-and-RSF-affiliated militias assaults on these communities as constituting a "cycle of systematic ethnic cleansing" including acts of torture and sexual violence as well as widespread looting. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has said in January that the RSF and Sudan's military "may be committing acts constituting war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide" in Darfur and warned of a return to the savagery of two decades ago. In May, Human Rights Watch also confirmed this violence, identifying targeted attacks on neighborhoods and institutional abuse of captured Masalit civilians. Add to that, the UN sanctions against the generals; tell a significantly broader story beyond just these findings as pieces of an accountability puzzle in sans – Sudanese reality, albeit still geopolitical attempts, at curtailing impunity for its ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Wider Fallout from the Sanctions

UN Security Council imposes sanctions that top world body must go beyond rhetoric, as needed measures to ensure compliance remaining acute in a poorly rule-ruled region let alone country, that fits definition of hell on earth a lot over Earlier in 2024, the United States had already issued sanctions against both generals, freezing their assets located within the U.S. and prohibiting any financial transactions with them. While the travel bans and asset freezes the UN has added to that framework also expand accountability — experts argue those measures alone will barely be felt in Darfur by the RSF right away. With RSF consolidating control over the capitals of each state in Darfur, and seeking to take El Fasher in North Darfur, international pressure rises for a peace process but with humanitarian access continuing to be needed into areas of active conflict. These sanctions may also be a first move in international action given the plunge of Sudan into famine, regional instability and increased violence.

Path Forward

The fresh violence in Darfur highlights the need for diplomacy that could not only address Sudanese power affairs, but also prevent further genocides against helpless people. Given the RSF's vice-like clutch on Darfur, the Security Council's sanctions may be a tipping point; Sudan's warring parties must now weigh their continued battles against these latest repercussions. But in the absence of a real peace process or major change on the ground, those generals who are being punished are only likely to retain their power — and Sudan its humanitarian and security crisis.