WASHINGTON/NAIROBI/CAIRO (Reuters) – The United States determined on Tuesday that members of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and imposed sanctions on the group’s leader over a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.

The moves deal a blow to the RSF’s attempts to burnish its image and assert legitimacy—including by installing a civilian government—as the paramilitary group seeks to expand its territory beyond the roughly half of the country it currently controls.

The RSF rejected the measures.

“America previously punished the great African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, which was wrong. Today, it is rewarding those who started the war by punishing [RSF leader] General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, which is also wrong,” said an RSF spokesperson when reached for comment.

The war in Sudan has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF. It has also carried out mass looting campaigns across swathes of the country, arbitrarily killing and sexually assaulting civilians in the process.

The RSF denies harming civilians and attributes the activity to rogue actors it says it is trying to control.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the RSF and aligned militias had continued to direct attacks against civilians, adding they had systematically murdered men and boys on an ethnic basis and had deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of sexual violence.

The militias have also targeted fleeing civilians and murdered innocent people escaping conflict, Mr. Blinken said.

“The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities,” Mr. Blinken stated.

Washington announced sanctions on the leader of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, barring him and his family from traveling to the U.S. and freezing any U.S. assets he might hold. Financial institutions and others that engage in certain activity with him also risk being hit with sanctions themselves.

It had previously sanctioned other leaders, as well as army officials, but had not sanctioned Mr. Dagalo, known as Hemedti, as attempts to bring the two sides to talks continued.

Such attempts have stalled in recent months.

“As the overall commander of the RSF, Hemedti bears command responsibility for the abhorrent and illegal actions of his forces,” the Treasury said.

Seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates and one other person were also hit with sanctions over their roles in procuring weapons for the RSF, Mr. Blinken said.

The companies represent part of an extensive financial network including gold and banking cultivated by Mr. Dagalo and his family members that stretches from the UAE to Sudan and neighboring countries.

A Reuters report found that dozens of planes had flown from the UAE to Chad, likely to resupply the RSF in Chad. The UAE denies the accusations, though a UN panel of experts found them credible.

A UAE official said in a statement on Wednesday that the country is not providing any support or supplies to either fighting party in Sudan and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Both Sides Responsible for Sudan’s Suffering, Blinken Says

Sudan’s army and RSF have been fighting for almost two years, creating a humanitarian crisis in which UN agencies struggle to deliver relief. More than half of Sudan’s population faces hunger, and famine has been declared in several areas.

The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the army and RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule.

Mr. Blinken said in the statement that “both belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to govern a future peaceful Sudan.”

The U.S. has sanctioned army leaders as well as individuals and entities linked to financing its weapons procurement. Last year, Mr. Blinken accused the RSF and the army, which has carried out numerous indiscriminate air strikes, of war crimes.

Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs in a statement on Wednesday welcomed the determination that the RSF had committed genocide and the sanctions against Hemedti, and called on other countries to take similar steps.

Though Hemedti and his previously sanctioned family members and generals form the core of the force’s military and business operations, the RSF itself was not hit with sanctions.

Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. official now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the genocide determination and sanctions would deal a blow to the RSF’s image.

“They’re looking at their long-term political viability and survivability in Sudan, and these designations, the leadership being sanctioned, the organization committing genocide—they make it harder to escape that legacy in the future.”

But, with two weeks left in President Joe Biden’s term, the moves come too late to have a meaningful impact on policy and are perhaps more aimed at positioning his administration on the right side of history, he said.

“To the extent that these determinations today have an impact, that will be for the Trump administration to determine.”