In June 2023, Ibrahim Shumo and some friends fled war-torn Sudan’s West Darfur, the members of the “non-Arab” Masalit tribe knew they would be killed if they stayed any longer.They feared the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militias from “Arab tribes” – the mainly nomadic and pastoralist communities in Darfur. Sedentary farming tribes are referred to as “non-Arab”.
The RSF and its allies were targeting Masalit civilians in El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, ethnic killing that began days after war broke out between the RSF and the Sudanese army on April 15, 2023.
A United Nations panel of experts found in January 2024 that the RSF and allied militias killed up to 15,000 people in El-Geneina.
Nearly a year later, the United States agreed with the UN experts, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declaring on Tuesday that the RSF and its allies had committed genocide by attacking civilians and systematically murdering men and boys because of their ethnicity.
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Blow to legitimacy
The determination led to US sanctions on several of the RSF’s shell companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and against the group’s leader, Mohamad Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.
Masalit survivors and analysts believe the designation and sanctions could isolate the RSF and permanently tarnish its image.
“The most lasting – permanent – effect of this designation … is that it dramatically hurts the prospect of Hemedti of taking a role in a future government and certainly, being in ch …