US blacklists Sudan army chief as Blinken regrets failure to end war

Washington: The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on Sudan s army chief days after blacklisting his main rival, as outgoing Secretary of Sta...

Washington: The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on Sudan's army chief days after blacklisting his main rival, as outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced regret at his failure to end the brutal war.

The Sudanese army has been at war with rival paramilitaries since April 2023 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million, including millions who face a worsening hunger crisis.

The Treasury Department announced sanctions on Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, a week after similar action against Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, Burhan's former deputy who heads the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

"Taken together, these sanctions underscore the US view that neither man is fit to govern a future, peaceful Sudan," Blinken said in a statement.

In the latest sanctions announcement, the Treasury Department accused the army of attacking schools, markets and hospitals and using food deprivation as a weapon of war -- although it stopped short of alleging genocide, a charge leveled at the RSF.