PREVIEW
EU foreign ministers resist pressure to remove SAF sanctions
On 20 November, European Union foreign ministers moved closer to taking a side in Sudan’s civil war by imposing sanctions on the deputy leader of the Rapid Support Forces, Lieutenant General Abdul Rahim Dagalo, brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemeti’.
‘The deliberate targeting of civilians, ethnically motivated killings, systematic sexual and gender-based violence, starvation as a method of warfare, and the denial of access to humanitarian aid are serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,’ stated the EU Foreign Affairs Council, adding that ‘such acts may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity’.
There has been a public relations effort in recent weeks by Sudanese diplomats to pressure the EU following Hemeti’s capture last month of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state (AC Vol 66 No 22, Burhan’s leadership in question after Darfur retreat). There have also been a series of exposés about arms sold by companies in Europe finding their way to the RSF.
So far, the EU has resisted pressure from General Abdel Fattah al Burhan to lift sanctions against his Sudan Armed Forces. Nor has Brussels designated the RSF as a terrorist organisation, a core demand of SAF, which has refused to back plans for a humanitarian ceasefire drawn up by the United States (Dispatches, 10/11/25, Burhan under pressure after Hemeti backs US ceasefire plan).
In a statement, the RSF-controlled Sudan Founding Alliance, which was set up to administer areas controlled by Hemeti’s forces, accused SAF of waging a ‘misleading media campaign’ including using ‘fake clips’ purporting to show killings of civilians and ethnic cleansing in and around El Fasher. It added that the EU’s stance – with its measures including an EU travel ban on Abdul Rahim Dagalo and the freezing of some of his assets – would prompt it to ‘reconsider and review how we deal and cooperate with it’.
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