February 19, 2026 l Dalena Reporters
The United States government has imposed targeted sanctions on three senior commanders of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) a powerful Sudanese paramilitary group accusing them of orchestrating widespread atrocities during the siege and capture of Al-Fashir, the capital of Sudan’s troubled Darfur region. The move underscores growing international condemnation of violence linked to Sudan’s ongoing conflict and intensifying pressure on armed groups to cease hostilities.
According to a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department, the sanctions target an RSF brigadier general accused of filming himself killing unarmed civilians, alongside a major general and a field commander, marking a rare step by Washington to hold specific militia leaders accountable for grave abuses. The U.S. government alleges that, since the city’s fall in October 2025 after an 18-month siege, the RSF accelerated a campaign of ethnic killings, mass detentions, torture, starvation and sexual violence against civilians.
The Treasury statement said that RSF fighters engaged in systematic efforts to conceal evidence of mass killings by burying, burning and disposing of tens of thousands of bodies — actions that have drawn international outrage and accusations of crimes against humanity.
The besiegement and subsequent takeover of Al-Fashir, once a diverse and populous city in Darfur, drove more than 100,000 residents to flee, according to U.S. estimates. Survivors and human rights observers reported ethnically motivated violence and widespread detentions in both the city and surrounding areas in the weeks following the RSF’s capture of the region.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions signal Washington’s readiness to “not tolerate this ongoing campaign of terror and senseless killing in Sudan” and urged the RSF to commit to an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The measures freeze any U.S.-based assets belonging to the sanctioned commanders and generally bar American individuals and entities from engaging in financial transactions with them.
The sanctions add to a growing array of international efforts aimed at isolating armed actors responsible for atrocities in Sudan’s long-running conflict which has displaced millions and destabilised wide swathes of the country since hostilities erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF in 2023. Analysts say the move may increase diplomatic leverage for peace negotiations, but they caution that real progress on the ground will require sustained pressure and tangible commitments from all sides.
As humanitarian conditions worsen across several conflict zones in Sudan, this latest punitive step by the United States reflects deepening global concern over the conduct of paramilitary groups and the ongoing suffering of civilians. Human rights groups are now calling for broader international actions to ensure accountability and improve protection for displaced populations in Darfur and beyond.