UK imposes fresh sanctions to dismantle Sudan’s “war machine”

• UK imposes immediate sanctions on six key figures fuelling Sudan's war.  

• Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper calls for ceasefire and unhindered access for aid agencies after witnessing the humanitarian crisis first-hand at the Sudan–Chad border.  

• Sanctions support the UK's wider push to “dismantle Sudan's war machine”, ramping up international pressure ahead of the UK's UN Security Council presidency.  

Effective immediately, the UK has today (Thursday 5 February) imposed a new set of sanctions against six individuals suspected of committing atrocities in the war in Sudan, or fuelling the conflict through the supply of mercenaries and military equipment.  

The measures were announced by the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, following her visit to the Sudanese border in Chad, where she met refugees who have fled the violence, including women and girls who have been the victims of sexual assault and rape at the hands of warring factions.  

The UK's new sanctions target senior commanders in both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), whose soldiers are suspected of carrying out massacres against the civilian population, and using rape as a weapon of war, as well as  a number of individuals suspected of recruiting foreign fighters to take part in the conflict, or facilitating the purchase of military equipment.    

At the border crossing of Adre, the Foreign Secretary met women whose children had been killed by roving militias, and who themselves had been raped and left for dead. She also met frontline humanitarian responders who are trying to deliver supplies of food and medicine to the millions of Sudanese people displaced from their homes.  

Earlier this month, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Sudan was not just the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, but one of the worst of the current century, with 9.3 million people displaced within Sudan, a further 4.3 million people having taken refuge across the border in countries like Chad, and more than 21 million people now suffering from acute food insecurity.  

In December, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced the allocation of an additional £21 million to support the relief effort, taking the UK contribution to £146 million across the current financial year, providing lifesaving aid to more than 800,000 people.  

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said:    

“At the Sudan-Chad border this week, I met women and children who have suffered unimaginable violence, and barely escaped with their lives. For their sake, and the millions of other civilians caught in the middle of this conflict, we urgently need a ceasefire, and safe access for humanitarian relief agencies to reach all those in need.  

“But we also need to ensure that there is a price to pay for the military commanders who have allowed these atrocities to take place, and the callous profiteers who have fuelled this conflict with the supply of mercenaries and weaponry.  

“Through these sanctions, we will seek to dismantle the war machine of those who perpetrate or profit from the brutal violence in Sudan, and we will send a message to every individual responsible for commanding these armies and committing these atrocities that they will one day be held to account.”  

In Darfur and Gezira states, the RSF and SAF are suspected of carrying out systematic attacks on civilians, including mass rapes and killings, ethnically targeted abuses, and forced displacement. Those atrocities have been fuelled by the supply of international mercenaries, which has prompted the UK to impose sanctions on a network of individuals suspected of recruiting and deploying former Colombian military personnel to train and fight for the RSF. Alongside this, we have targeted RSF weapons, procurement, and finance through the designation of the Director of the UK-sanctioned al-Khaleej bank.   

The new sanctions package forms part of the FCDO's wider strategy to address the crisis in Sudan, working through the United Nations, the G7 and regional partners to call for an immediate ceasefire, and unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies. The UK will make Sudan a priority of its UN Security Council Presidency in February, pressing for stronger action on humanitarian relief, accountability for atrocities, and coordinated international pressure on the warring parties. In April, the UK will also join Germany in hosting an international conference to mark the third anniversary of the conflict, and mobilise international efforts to bring the war to an end.    

The designations imposed by the UK on 5 February include:   

The new measures announced by the UK follow the imposition of sanctions on 12 December against four RSF commanders suspected of responsibility for atrocities, details of which can be found here: UK sanctions commanders responsible for Sudan atrocities - GOV.UK