US to impose sanctions on Sudanese army chief Burhan

Nairobi.  The United States will impose financial sanctions on Thursday on Sudan's leader, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Washington was set to announce the measures just a week after imposing sanctions against Burhan's rival in a two-year-old civil war, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Two of the sources said one aim of the sanctions on Burhan was to show that Washington was not picking sides.

Speaking among his soldiers earlier on Thursday, Burhan was defiant about the prospect that he might be targeted.

"I hear there's going to be sanctions on the army leadership. We welcome any sanctions for serving this country," he said in comments broadcast on Al Jazeera television.

The Sudanese army and spokespeople for the U.S. State and Treasury departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Sudanese army and the RSF together led a coup in 2021 removing Sudan's civilian leadership, but fell out less than two years later over plans to integrate their forces.

The war that broke out in April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the population into hunger.

According to one of the sources, a diplomat, the grounds for the sanctions against Burhan included the army targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, denying humanitarian aid access and refusing to participate in peace talks last year.

Some Palestinians in Gaza struggled on Thursday to celebrate a ceasefire deal being struck as they mourned loved ones killed in Israeli strikes within hours of its announcement.

Dagalo, known as Hemedti, was sanctioned after Washington determined his forces had committed genocide, as well as for attacks on civilians. The RSF has engaged in bloody looting campaigns in the territory it controls.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have tried repeatedly to get both sides to the negotiating table, with the army refusing most attempts, including talks in Geneva in August which in part aimed to ease humanitarian access.

The army has instead ramped up its military campaign, this week taking the strategic city of Wad Madani and vowing to retake the capital Khartoum.

Rights experts and residents have accused the army of indiscriminate airstrikes as well as attacks on civilians, most recently revenge attacks in Wad Madani this week. The U.S. had previously determined the army and RSF had committed war crimes.