JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The Biden Administration has been blasted by the incoming Chairman of the Senate International Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho., for “waiting” till the outgoing President had solely 13 days left in workplace earlier than declaring insurgent actions in Sudan, a rustic torn aside by 21 months of bitter battle, to be “genocide.”
Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that members of the Sudanese insurgent group, the Speedy Assist Forces or RSF, “have committed genocide in Sudan.”
In a press release, Blinken stated, “The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities. We are sanctioning RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, known as Hemedti, for his role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people.”
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) throughout a trilateral assembly with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos within the East Room of the White Home on April 11, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Leaders from the three nations are assembly in a first-ever trilateral summit in a present of solidarity as China’s assertiveness within the South China Sea has raised tensions within the area. (Picture by Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos.)
Blinken made his rulings, he acknowledged, as a result of “the RSF and RSF-aligned militias have continued to direct attacks against civilians, have systematically murdered men and boys—even infants—on an ethnic basis, and (have) deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence.”
The Secretary continued, “Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.”
Blinken added that the African nation is struggling by way of “a conflict of unmitigated brutality that has resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe, leaving 638,000 Sudanese experiencing the worst famine in Sudan’s recent history, over 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and tens of thousands dead.”
Risch has held out that the scenario in Sudan has been catastrophic for nicely over a 12 months, and known as into query the timing of Blinken’s declaration. In a press release earlier this week, he wrote, “It has been nearly a year since I introduced a resolution calling the atrocities in Sudan what they are: a genocide. Additionally, I first called for Global Magnitsky sanctions to be imposed against the RSF and Hemedti 263 days ago – and yet these sanctions still have not been leveraged.”
Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement, a Sudanese rebel group active in Sudan’s Darfur State which supports army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, attend a graduation ceremony in the southeastern Gedaref state on March 28, 2024. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images.)
Risch spoke to Fox News Digital, declaring, “The Biden Administration waited until it has less than two weeks in office to sanction RSF-affiliated companies and Hemedti for their crimes and to call atrocities in Sudan a genocide.”
Risch said, “This neglect to address the crisis in Sudan weakened America’s affect within the area and the world years in the past. If the Biden Administration backed its rhetoric with motion, Sudan can be in a greater place in the present day, extra lives can be saved, and the overseas proxies exacerbating this battle can be stored at bay.”
Risch added, “This war must end. Further instability in Sudan will only breed terrorism and regional turmoil, threatening global security. The U.S. and our allies must seek to end the killing and atrocities, end the malign actions by proxies, manage migration pressures from mass displacement and protect strategic interests like the Red Sea corridor.”
UAE, OTHER COUNTRIES REMOVED FROM INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING WATCHLIST
Folks board a truck as they depart Khartoum, Sudan, on June 19, 2023. The U.N. human rights workplace stated in a brand new report on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, that scores of individuals, together with youngsters, have been subjected to rape and different types of sexual violence within the ongoing battle in Sudan, assaults that will quantity to battle crimes. (AP Picture, File)
In his declaration, Blinken introduced new sanctions stating, “We’re additionally sanctioning seven RSF-owned corporations positioned within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one particular person for his or her roles in procuring weapons for the RSF.”
The Treasury Division additionally despatched out a press release, just about concurrently to the one from State, saying “the RSF’s ability to acquire military equipment and generate finances continue to fuel the conflict in Sudan.” Treasury acknowledged one specific firm within the UAE, owned by a Sudanese nationwide “has provided money and weapons to the RSF.”
Different UAE corporations sanctioned this previous week have been accused by the Treasury Division of dealing with monetary transactions, of being “an essential part of the RSF’s efforts to finance its operations”, and of importing IT and safety gear .
One gold firm within the UAE has been sanctioned as a result of it has allegedly “purchased gold from Sudan, presumably for the benefit of the RSF, and subsequently transported it to Dubai.” Moreover, Treasury claimed “the RSF’s procurement director and brother of RSF leader Hemedti maintained access to (the gold company’s) bank account in the UAE, which held millions of dollars.”
Girls from El Geneina, West Darfur, weep after receiving information of their lacking kinfolk in Ardamata, as they waited for them in Adre, Chad, November 7, 2023. Ardamata was the newest website of an ethnic purge led by the RSF and allied Arab militias towards the ethnic African Masalit tribe. (Reuters/El Tayeb Siddig. )
“The United States continues to call for an end to this conflict that is putting innocent civilian lives in jeopardy,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo acknowledged. “The Treasury Department remains committed to using every tool available to hold accountable those responsible for violating the human rights of the Sudanese people.”
In response to Fox Information Digital questions involving UAE registered corporations an official from its overseas ministry fired again, stating. “The UAE’s primary focus in Sudan remains on addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis. We continue to call for an immediate cease-fire and a peaceful resolution to this man-made conflict. In this regard, the UAE has already made absolutely clear that it is not providing any support or supplies to either of two belligerent warring parties in Sudan.”
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The official continued, “the UAE takes its role in protecting the integrity of the international financial system extremely seriously. We remain committed to combating financial crime globally, enhancing international cooperation and developing strategies to address emerging risks.”
