NEW YORK, USA — The United Nations Security Council has imposed targeted sanctions on four senior commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), citing their roles in atrocities committed during the siege and capture of the western Darfur city of El-Fasher.
The sanctions, approved by the Security Council Committee established under Resolution 1591 (2005), add the four RSF officials to the UN sanctions list, requiring member states to enforce asset freezes, travel bans and restrictions on their movements.
Among those designated are Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo, RSF deputy commander and brother of the group’s leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo; Gedo Hamdan Ahmed, commander for the North Darfur section of the RSF; Brigadier General Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, widely known as ‘Abu Lulu’; and field commander Tijani Ibrahim Moussa Mohamed.
The sanctions follow findings by a UN fact-finding mission, which described the RSF’s October 2025 offensive in El-Fasher, the last major stronghold of Sudan’s regular army in Darfur, as marked by summary executions, systematic sexual violence, mass detention and ethnically targeted violence against communities such as the Zaghawa.
In announcing the measures, the Security Council highlighted footage and reports indicating that Abdelrahim Daglo was present during the October capture of El-Fasher and allegedly directed fighters to kill rather than take captives.
Idris, dubbed the ‘Butcher of El-Fasher,’ was shown in videos executing unarmed civilians and boasting of killings — some recorded and disseminated by RSF members themselves.
The sanctions regime, which was originally established to curb violence in Darfur and enforce a longstanding arms embargo, aims to pressure those responsible for widely condemned abuses and undermine their ability to operate internationally.
The conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces has devastated Sudan since April 2023, triggering widespread displacement, humanitarian crises and international calls for accountability.
