UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council has added two Sudanese paramilitary officers to the list of individuals sanctioned because of their actions in the fighting there, the council’s British presidency announced.

It singled out Abdul Rahman Juma, a major general with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its west Sudan commander; and Major General Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, who heads RSF operations.

The two were being sanctioned “following ethnically motivated attacks and atrocities in Sudan,” the British mission at the UN said on X.

A special Security Council committee with representatives of all 15 member countries makes decisions on such sanctions matters. The conflict in Sudan pits the regular army, under Abdel Fattah al Burhan, against the RSF, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. It has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

The country is suffering through one of its worst humanitarian crises in recent history, with both sides accused of war crimes and of blocking humanitarian aid.

Following the Darfur civil war of the early 2000s, the Security Council in 2005 established a sanctions regime targeting that Sudanese region. It includes an embargo on arms shipments to Darfur, as well as individual sanctions such as a freeze on assets and ban on foreign travel.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2024