NEW YORK: The UN Security Council on Tuesday sanctioned four senior commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, including the brother of the paramilitary group’s leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, over atrocities committed in Darfur, according to a committee statement and diplomats.

The action was taken by the Security Council committee established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005) concerning Sudan, which oversees an arms embargo as well as targeted travel bans and asset freezes under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

The four men are now subject to a global asset freeze and travel ban. They are Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, deputy commander of the RSF and brother of its leader; Gedo Hamdan Ahmed, a senior commander in North Darfur; Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, a brigadier general; and Tijani Ibrahim Moussa Mohamed, a field commander.

In detailed narrative summaries published by the sanctions committee, the four are described as having engaged in actions that “threaten the peace, security, or stability of Darfur,” including acts of violence and serious human rights abuses linked to the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur, on Oct. 26, 2025.

According to the committee’s findings, the RSF committed mass killings of civilians at El-Fasher University and at the city’s Saudi Hospital, as well as shootings in areas northwest of Darfur, on the day of the assault.

The violence included ethnically targeted executions of Zaghawa and other non-Arab communities.

Reports cited by the committee detail widespread sexual violence, including gang rape in front of relatives and other forms of gender-based sexual abuse.

RSF troops are also accused of kidnapping medical personnel, four doctors, a pharmacist and a nurse, and holding them for ransom exceeding $150,000, while other medical staff were reportedly held hostage.

The events since Oct. 26 have displaced an estimated 70,000 people, with civilians reported trapped, missing or held by RSF fighters in the city.

Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo was present at the Sudanese Armed Forces’ 6th Infantry Division base in El-Fasher on Oct. 26, according to the committee.

Video footage cited in the summary is said to show him overseeing operations and giving direct orders to fighters not to take captives but to “kill everyone.”

His designation marks the most senior RSF figure sanctioned at the UN level since the conflict between the RSF and SAF erupted in April 2023.

Idris is referred to as the “Butcher of El-Fasher.” The committee says he was a key perpetrator of the Oct. 26 violence and gave orders to kill civilians.

Video footage cited by the committee shows him executing unarmed men, posing among corpses and boasting about killing more than 2,000 people. Some of the videos were reportedly filmed and disseminated by RSF members themselves.

The summary describes instances in which he appeared smiling while shooting civilians who were pleading for mercy, including in ethnically targeted executions.

Ahmed was identified as one of six RSF generals present in El-Fasher on Oct. 26, alongside Abdul Rahim Dagalo.

He is being designated for engaging in acts of violence and human rights abuses that threaten stability in Darfur.

Mohamed was also present at the 6th Infantry Division base that day, according to the committee.

He appeared in video footage addressing a large group of detained civilians in civilian clothing after the takeover.

The committee links Ahmed and Mohamed to the same pattern of mass killings, ethnically targeted executions, sexual violence, hostage-taking of medical staff and the large-scale displacement that followed the assault.

Under the sanctions, all UN member states are required to freeze any assets belonging to the four individuals within their jurisdictions, and to prevent their entry into or transit through their territories.

The UK, which holds the UNSC presidency in February, had already imposed sanctions on the four in December 2025, citing mass killings and systematic sexual violence in Darfur.

This month, the UK joined the US and France in urging the council’s Sudan sanctions committee to move forward with UN designations, diplomats said. Washington has also imposed separate sanctions on RSF figures under US authorities.

The civil war has displaced millions and devastated large parts of Sudan, particularly in Darfur, where a recent human rights report said RSF actions bore the “hallmarks of genocide.”