EU sanctions RSF deputy commander for role in Darfur war campaign
Brussels targets Abdelrahim Dagalo as scrutiny intensifies over Darfur atrocities
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and one of the most powerful figures in the paramilitary group, citing his central role in RSF operations across Darfur and his responsibility for grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The decision, published Thursday in the EU’s official journal, significantly expands the bloc’s sanctions regime on Sudan’s warring parties.
The EU listing states that Abdelrahim “played a pivotal role in the RSF campaign in Darfur,” personally supervising military operations in all five states of the region since at least October 2023. According to findings referenced in the decision from the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, Abdelrahim oversaw attacks resulting in killings, executions, and violence against civilian populations, including during the RSF’s advance into El Fasher in October 2025.
“On 15 January 2024, Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo was identified by the United Nations Panel of Experts on Sudan as having ‘played a pivotal role in the RSF campaign in Darfur, personally supervising the military operations in the five States [of Darfur], since October [2023]’. In October 2025, he ordered the killing and execution of civilians and led RSF actions against civilians in El Fasher.”
“Together with his two sons, Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo owns the holding company Al Junaid Multi Activities Co Ltd (Al Junaid), an entity subject to restrictive measures by the Union for procuring military equipment for the RSF. Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo played a pivotal role in the RSF campaign in Darfur, by personally supervising the military operations and by financing RSF operations through Al Junaid. He is therefore associated with an entity that provides support for RSF actions that threaten the peace, stability or security of Sudan.”
“Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo is therefore responsible for directing acts in Sudan that constitute serious human rights violations or abuses or violations of international humanitarian law. He is also responsible for actions that threaten the peace, stability or security of Sudan.”
The sanctions come just weeks after the RSF captured El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State and the Sudanese army’s last major stronghold in the traditionally restive region. The city fell on 26 October 2025, ending an 18-month siege.
As RSF forces overran the 6th Infantry Division headquarters and surrounding neighborhoods, thousands of civilians, soldiers, and ex-combatants were killed along escape routes, inside hospitals, and on the city’s outskirts. Satellite images, survivor accounts, and videos filmed by RSF fighters show mass executions, targeted killings of fleeing men, and shootings inside medical facilities—conduct that humanitarian researchers have described as “Rwanda-level mass extermination.”
Two days after the city’s fall, Abdelrahim became the first high-ranking RSF commander to arrive in El Fasher, placing him in direct proximity to the atrocities committed during and after the capture of the city. Preliminary investigations by Sudan War Monitor and external research groups estimates the death toll to be in the thousands, including civilians and disarmed combatants executed after surrendering. Abdelrahim’s arrival, combined with his operational authority across all of Darfur, formed a central part of the EU’s determination that he bears command responsibility for the violations.
The designation intensifies international pressure on the Dagalo family. Abdelrahim is the elder brother of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (also known as “Hemedti”), the RSF commander sanctioned by the United States, and of Al-Goney Hamdan Daglo, sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in October 2024 for weapons procurement. Abdelrahim’s listing makes him the latest member of the family to face targeted measures.
The EU also underscored Abdelrahim’s control over Al Junaid Multi Activities Co. Ltd, a holding company previously sanctioned for enabling RSF procurement and financing networks. Officials said the company continues to support RSF operations in Darfur and Kordofan, forming part of a broader economic architecture sustaining the paramilitary’s war effort.
These sanctions follow the EU’s December 2024 designations of several senior Sudanese security officials, including former intelligence chief Salah Gosh, military intelligence director Lt-Gen. Mohamed Ali Ahmed, RSF major general Osman Mohamed Hamid (“Osman Operations”), and West Darfur’s de facto governor Tijani Karshom. Those measures cited torture, arbitrary detention, ethnic targeting, and obstruction of humanitarian access.
The United States has previously issued its own sanctions against the RSF leadership, including against Al-Goney Daglo for procuring weapons that prolonged RSF operations in El Fasher, then home to nearly two million civilians. Other RSF commanders sanctioned by Washington include West Darfur commander Abdulrahman Juma, operations chief Osman Mohamed “Operations”, Taha Osman, and slain Central Darfur commander Ali Yagoub.
European officials said Abdelrahim’s new designation was driven by the scale and severity of RSF actions across Darfur, including mass displacement, destruction of villages, and targeted killings. The decision imposes an EU-wide asset freeze and travel ban and prohibits any EU individual or entity from providing funds or resources to Abdelrahim or his associated networks.
The RSF has not released an official statement, but Al-Basha Tabiq, senior advisor to RSF commander Hemedti, criticized the sanctions on Twitter, dismissing them as politically motivated and based on “misleading allegations.” His remarks mark the RSF leadership’s first formal response, coming amid heightened scrutiny of the group’s conduct in El Fasher.
In his statement, Al-Basha accused the EU of relying on biased sources, ignoring violations committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied militias, and failing to conduct proper investigations.
“The sanctions imposed by the European Union on the Rapid Support Forces’ Deputy Commander, Lt-Gen. Abdelrahim, are unjust and unfair. Proper legal procedures were not followed, as no investigative committees were sent to examine the alleged accusations.”
“All the charges on which the decision is based are false and contradict both reality and truth—foremost among them the claims of targeting civilians and carrying out killings based on identity. These are allegations promoted by racist and misleading organizations that distort facts, far removed from professionalism, neutrality, and ethics.”
“Lt-Gen. Abdelrahim has consistently worked to protect civilians and open safe corridors for humanitarian aid, while the European Union deliberately ignored the other side, which has adopted hate speech, implemented the so-called ‘law of strange faces,’ carried out killings and slaughter on ethnic and regional grounds, targeted civilians with aircraft, barrel bombs, and chemical weapons, attacked humanitarian convoys in Kuma and Zalingei, obstructed aid from reaching those in need, and detained hundreds of aid trucks in the city of Debba to prevent them from reaching El Fasher.”
“Justice cannot be selective, and such sanctions will only make the situation more complicated. The European Union should have supported international efforts aimed at stopping the war, instead of issuing sanctions based on misleading information and incorrect evidence.”
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