The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on 15 senior commanders from Sudan’s warring parties over suspected atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence, and announced £15 million in aid for survivors and civilians affected by the conflict.
The measures, announced on Monday, come a year after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, following an 18-month siege that left the city devastated.
The sanctions target commanders from both the paramilitary RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), imposing travel bans and asset freezes on those designated.
Among those sanctioned are Hussein Abu Jalak, an RSF colonel linked to atrocities during the siege, and Al-Nour Ahmed Adam, known as Al-Qubba, who was identified as playing a prominent role in besieging and attacking the city.
The UK also sanctioned Sudanese army commanders over their alleged involvement in massacres in Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira state. They include Brigadier General Ahmed Haj Barrir Ahmed and Abu Zaid Talha Al-Misbah, commander of the Al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion, an Islamist militia that fought alongside the army during a campaign of violence against civilians in Gezira.
Al-Nour Ahmed Adam, who served as an RSF major general during the takeover of El Fasher, has since defected to the Sudanese army.
Support for survivors
The UK announced £5 million to support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan. The funding will provide sexual and reproductive healthcare, maternal health services, psychosocial support and safe spaces for women and girls.
A further £10 million will support humanitarian operations amid growing famine risks linked to attacks on markets, health facilities and displacement camps, obstruction of aid deliveries and drought associated with the El Niño weather phenomenon.
The funding will help improve access to clean water and sanitation at displacement sites around Tawila in North Darfur, reducing the risk of disease outbreaks. It will also support health, protection and other essential services in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, where conflict and restrictions on humanitarian access have left civilians facing acute needs.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said UK-funded investigations had documented the continued use of rape and starvation against civilians.
“The perpetrators must be held accountable and support from all external backers to the warring parties must end,” Miliband said.
He warned that El Niño could worsen the humanitarian crisis but said the RSF and SAF could help prevent famine by stopping attacks on aid convoys and allowing food to reach communities.
“The war in Sudan has created a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said. “A year on from the atrocities in El Fasher, UK-funded investigations have shown that rape and starvation are still being weaponised against the people of Sudan.”
Evidence of abuses
The sanctions announcement followed the publication of investigations by the UK-funded Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), which documented alleged systematic starvation and conflict-related sexual violence against civilians by both sides in Sudan’s war.
The CIR identified five hotspots of conflict-related sexual violence and 25 commanders whom it said there were reasonable grounds to believe were directly or indirectly responsible for abuses in those areas.
Its reporting also documented the use of siege tactics, drone attacks on civilian infrastructure and humanitarian operations, and the systematic obstruction of aid deliveries.
Footage gathered by the organisation showed RSF fighters discussing cutting off water supplies to El Fasher and preventing traders from bringing food into the city, according to the report.
The CIR also documented accounts of women and girls being abducted, repeatedly raped and held in conditions amounting to sexual slavery.
The RSF captured El Fasher in October 2025 after besieging the city for about 18 months. In the days following the takeover, civilians were massacred and widespread sexual violence was reported, leaving entire communities devastated.
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