Sudan: RSF procurement chief slapped with US sanctions

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on the procurement director of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Algoney Hamdan Dagalo Musa – who is one of the younger brothers of RSF commander Lt Gen Mohammed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo – for “leading efforts to supply weapons to continue the war in Sudan”. The announcement was dismissed by the Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority as “devoid of any meaningful policy approach…”

In a statement yesterday, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Algoney for leading efforts to supply weapons to continue the war in Sudan.

“Algoney has extended this war by leading RSF efforts to procure weapons and military materiel. By arming the RSF, his actions have directly contributed to the RSF’s ongoing siege of El Fasher in North Darfur, a city of nearly two million vulnerable civilians, and the RSF’s operations elsewhere in Sudan.

“At a time when the United States, the United Nations, the African Union, and others are advocating for peace, key individuals on both sides—including Algoney Hamdan Daglo Musa—continue to procure weapons to facilitate attacks and other atrocities against their own citizens,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “The United States will continue to hold accountable those who seek to prolong this conflict and restrict access to vital humanitarian assistance at a time of famine and fragility,” the US Treasury statement says.

It points out that as one of the younger brothers of RSF commander Lt Gen Mohammed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo Mohammed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti), and also previously worked as his personal secretary, Algoney is a key officer within the RSF, especially given Hemedti’s preference for staffing key roles in the organization with his family members. Algoney has controlled RSF front companies, including the OFAC-sanctioned Tradive General Trading, which imported vehicles to Sudan on behalf of the RSF, the Treasury Department says.

US Republican Michael McCaul, who represents the 10th District of Texas and is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority, has dismissed the new sanctions as “devoid of any meaningful policy approach and demonstrates the lack of effort the Biden-Harris administration is putting into stopping the pain and suffering of the Sudanese people.”

In a post on X, McCaul calls on the US State Dept. to “connect their sanctions action to a coordinated policy approach that will affect real change in #Sudan.”

Implications:

The Treasury says that as a result of the action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.

In addition, financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. (Source: US Treasury)