Amna Nawaz:
The U.S. Treasury Department levied sanctions on RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan, also known as Hemedti, plus seven RSF-owned companies based in the United Arab Emirates. The RSF stems from the government-backed Janjaweed militias, a largely Arab force that brutally crushed an uprising of non-Arabs in the 2000s, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
In 2004, the U.S. declared that war in Darfur a genocide. Years later, a 2020 peace agreement was quickly undone by a coup and subsequent fighting the following year, and, by 2023 a full-blown civil war, as the RSF fight the Sudanese military for control of the country.
The war has accelerated an already dire humanitarian crisis. Millions of Sudanese are short on food, water, and electricity, and the medical system is on the verge of collapse. The U.S. envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, says some estimates suggest close to 150,000 people have been killed as a result of the conflict.
For more, we turn to Beth Van Schaack, U.S. ambassador at large for global criminal justice.
Welcome to the “News Hour.”
Beth Van Schaack, U.S. Ambassador at Large For Global Criminal Justice: Thank you for having me.
