The UK has hit four senior commanders of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with sanctions over suspected atrocities in Sudan.
The move follows a decision by the US to sanction a network recruiting Colombian mercenaries to fight in Sudan. It also comes after the European Union (EU) slapped the RSF leadership with sanctions for alleged atrocities in Darfur.
UK Sanctions against RSF
On Friday, the UK announced fresh sanctions on individuals suspected of atrocities and heinous crimes including mass killings, systematic sexual violence, and deliberate attacks on civilians in El-Fasher, Sudan.
The sanctions target RSF’s senior commanders, including Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF Deputy Leader and brother of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
The sanctions also target three other commanders that are suspected of involvement in these crimes.
Individuals under sanctions are now subject to asset freezes and travel bans, the British government said in a statement.
“The overwhelming evidence of heinous crimes – mass executions, starvation, and the systematic and calculated use of rape as a weapon of war – cannot and will not go unpunished. Today’s sanctions against RSF commanders strike directly at those with blood on their hands,” the British Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said.
Sanctioned RSF Leaders
The RSF commanders who face sanctions are:
- Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo – Deputy Leader of the RSF, and brother of RSF leader, Hemedti. Suspected crimes include: mass killings of civilians, ethnically targeted executions, systematic sexual violence including gang rape, abductions for ransom, arbitrary detentions, and attacks on health facilities and humanitarian workers.
- Gedo Hamdan Ahmed – RSF Commander for the North Darfur. Suspected crimes include: mass killings, sexual violence, abductions, and attacks on medical and humanitarian personnel.
- Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris – Brigadier General of the RSF. Suspected crimes include: violence against individuals based on ethnicity and religion, and the deliberate targeting of civilians.
- Tijani Ibrahim Moussa Mohamed – RSF Field Commander. Suspected crimes include: deliberate targeting of civilians in El Fasher.
El-Fasher Crimes
In late October 2025, the RSF captured El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur state and the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the Darfur region, after an 18-month siege, unleashing a wave of mass killings and sexual violence and raising fears over hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians.
The UK government described the crimes in El-Fasher as “part of a deliberate strategy to terrorize populations and seize control through fear and violence,” stressing the urgency of “accountability for these actions, and urgent steps taken to avoid this happening again.”
The statement added that sanctions against RSF leaders “sends a clear message that those who commit atrocities will be held to account.”
Moreover, the British government pledged an additional £21 million package of urgent support to communities on the brink, providing food, clean water, health care, and protection for women and children in areas hardest hit by violence.
US & EU Sanctions
On Tuesday, the US imposed sanctions on a transnational network of four individuals and four entities for recruiting former Colombian soldiers and training individuals to fight for the RSF in Sudan.
In January 2025, the US sanctioned the RSF leader Hemedti for his role in “systematic” atrocities against the Sudanese people during the war, accusing the RSF and allied militias of committing genocide in Sudan.
RSF commander Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo was also sanctioned by the US in September 2023 over acts of violence and human rights abuses committed by the paramilitary, including the massacre of civilians, ethnic killings, and use of sexual violence.
Meanwhile, the EU announced in November 2025 sanctions against Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo over “grave and ongoing atrocities” by his forces during the war, including during the seizure of El-Fasher in Darfur.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), triggering “the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis,” according to the UN.
Furthermore, it has driven Sudan into effective partition, with the SAF controlling the center, north and east, while the RSF holds the entire Darfur region and parts of Kordofan in the south, with each side declaring a government.
