One year after the fall of El Fasher, the United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on 15 senior commanders from both sides of Sudan’s civil war, accusing them of atrocities including conflict-related sexual violence, torture, and the deliberate starvation of civilians. The measures, announced Monday by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, impose travel bans and asset freezes on figures from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), alongside £15 million in new funding for survivors and humanitarian operations .
Among those designated are RSF Colonel Hussein Abu Jalak, linked to atrocities during the siege of El Fasher, and Al-Nour Ahmed Adam, known as “Al-Qubba,” whom the UK identified as having played a prominent role in besieging and attacking the North Darfur capital . The sanctions also target SAF commanders, including Brigadier General Ahmed Haj Barrir Ahmed and Abu Zaid Talha Al-Misbah, commander of the Al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion, an Islamist militia accused of systematic violence against civilians in Gezira State . The measures build on five previous rounds of UK sanctions related to Sudan’s conflict .
El Fasher fell to the RSF in October 2025 after an 18-month siege that reduced hundreds of thousands of civilians to surviving on animal feed. In the days that followed, up to 10,000 men, women, and children are believed to have been killed over two days—described by The Guardian as the fastest and largest massacre of civilians this century—while another 40,000 remain unaccounted for . Women and girls were subjected to horrific sexual violence, and entire communities were devastated .
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said UK-funded investigations had documented the continued use of rape and starvation as weapons of war. “These are crimes against our humanity,” he said. “The perpetrators must be held accountable and support from all external backers to the warring parties must end” . He warned that El Niño conditions may worsen an already desperate situation, but insisted that whether famine takes hold “is in the hands of the RSF and SAF—they must stop attacking aid convoys and let food reach communities” .
The announcement followed new reporting by the UK-funded Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), which documented systematic starvation and sexual violence against civilians by both sides of the conflict. The evidence included footage of RSF fighters discussing cutting off El Fasher’s water supplies and preventing traders from bringing food into the city . CIR reporting also described women and girls being abducted, repeatedly raped, and held in conditions amounting to sexual slavery .
The UK allocated £5 million to support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, funding sexual and reproductive healthcare, maternal health services, psychosocial support, and safe spaces for women and girls. A further £10 million will support humanitarian operations, including clean water and sanitation at displacement sites around Tawila and essential health and protection services in El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, where conflict and access restrictions have left civilians facing acute needs .
Sudan’s war began in April 2023 between the SAF and the RSF following a breakdown in the transition to civilian rule . The conflict has created what Miliband called “a humanitarian catastrophe,” with both warring parties accused of using siege tactics, drone attacks on civilian infrastructure, and the obstruction of aid as weapons of war .
The UN human rights office has separately documented gruesome sexual violence in North Darfur, including an April 2026 RSF offensive on Zamzam camp that killed more than 1,000 civilians, with at least 104 people—mostly from the Zaghawa ethnic tribe—subjected to rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery. UN rights chief Volker Türk said sexual violence appeared to have been “deliberately used to inflict terror on the community” .
Amnesty International UK welcomed the sanctions as “a step towards justice” but urged the UK to go further. Kristyan Benedict, the organization’s crisis response manager, said: “The UAE is arming the RSF. Until that stops, the UK must halt all arms transfers to the UAE. What is happening in Sudan is a war on civilians. Without a ceasefire, justice and an international force to protect civilians, it will not end” .
