JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The Biden Administration has been blasted by the incoming Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho., for “waiting” until the outgoing President had only 13 days left in office before declaring rebel actions in Sudan, a country torn apart by 21 months of bitter war, to be “genocide.”

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that members of the Sudanese rebel group, the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, “have committed genocide in Sudan.” 

In a statement, Blinken said, “The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities. We are sanctioning RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, known as Hemedti, for his role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people.”

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Blinken made his rulings, he stated, because “the RSF and RSF-aligned militias have continued to direct attacks against civilians, have systematically murdered men and boys—even infants—on an ethnic basis, and (have) deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence.”

The Secretary continued, “Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.”

Blinken added that the African nation is suffering through “a conflict of unmitigated brutality that has resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe, leaving 638,000 Sudanese experiencing the worst famine in Sudan’s recent history, over 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and tens of thousands dead.”

Risch has held out that the situation in Sudan has been catastrophic for well over a year, and called into question the timing of Blinken’s declaration. In a statement earlier this week, he wrote, “It has been nearly a year since I introduced a resolution calling the atrocities in Sudan what they are: a genocide. Additionally, I first called for Global Magnitsky sanctions to be imposed against the RSF and Hemedti 263 days ago – and yet these sanctions still have not been leveraged.”

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Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement, a Sudanese rebel group active in Sudan’s Darfur State which supports army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, attend a graduation ceremony in the southeastern Gedaref state on March 28, 2024.  (Photo by AFP via Getty Images.)

Risch spoke to Fox News Digital, declaring, “The Biden Administration waited until it has less than two weeks in office to sanction RSF-affiliated companies and Hemedti for their crimes and to call atrocities in Sudan a genocide.”

Risch said, “This neglect to address the crisis in Sudan weakened America’s influence in the region and the world years ago. If the Biden Administration backed its rhetoric with action, Sudan would be in a better position today, more lives would be saved, and the foreign proxies exacerbating this conflict would be kept at bay.”

Risch added, “This war must end. Further instability in Sudan will only breed terrorism and regional turmoil, threatening global security. The U.S. and our allies must seek to end the killing and atrocities, end the malign actions by proxies, manage migration pressures from mass displacement and protect strategic interests like the Red Sea corridor.”

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People board a truck as they leave Khartoum, Sudan, on June 19, 2023. The U.N. human rights office said in a new report on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, that scores of people, including children, have been subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence in the ongoing conflict in Sudan, assaults that may amount to war crimes. (AP Photo, File)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, Thomas Perriello, said “Making an atrocity determination is an immense responsibility that the Secretary takes seriously.  Such determinations are based on a careful review of the facts and the law. It requires information not only of certain acts but also that those acts were done with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a racial, ethnic, national, or religious group. Information demonstrating intent is often difficult to find and assess.”
 
“Since the start of the conflict the United States has taken repeated action to promote accountability of the RSF for its atrocities conduct. The U.S. already had sanctioned five RSF leaders, including two of Hemedti’s brothers. We also determined in December 2023 that members of the RSF committed ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. So the designation of Hemedti and the genocide determination reflect a consistent effort to document and call out atrocities, acknowledge the suffering of victims and survivors, and pursue justice and accountability.”

In his declaration, Blinken announced new sanctions stating, “We are also sanctioning seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one individual for their roles in procuring weapons for the RSF.”

The new Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. (Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)

The Treasury Department also sent out a statement, virtually simultaneously to the one from State, saying “the RSF’s ability to acquire military equipment and generate finances continue to fuel the conflict in Sudan.” Treasury stated one particular company in the UAE, owned by a Sudanese national  “has provided money and weapons to the RSF.”  

Other UAE companies sanctioned this past week have been accused by the Treasury Department of handling financial transactions, of being “an essential part of the RSF’s efforts to finance its operations”, and of importing IT and security equipment .

One gold company in the UAE has been sanctioned because it has allegedly “purchased gold from Sudan, presumably for the benefit of the RSF, and subsequently transported it to Dubai.” Additionally, Treasury claimed “the RSF’s procurement director and brother of RSF leader Hemedti maintained access to (the gold company’s) bank account in the UAE, which held millions of dollars.”

Women from El Geneina, West Darfur,  weep after receiving news of their missing relatives in Ardamata, as they waited for them in Adre, Chad, November 7, 2023. Ardamata was the latest site of an ethnic purge led by the RSF and allied Arab militias against the ethnic African Masalit tribe.  (Reuters/El Tayeb Siddig.  )

“The United States continues to call for an end to this conflict that is putting innocent civilian lives in jeopardy,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo stated. “The Treasury Department remains committed to using every tool available to hold accountable those responsible for violating the human rights of the Sudanese people.”

In response to Fox News Digital questions involving UAE registered companies an official from its foreign ministry fired back, stating. “The UAE’s primary focus in Sudan remains on addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis. We continue to call for an immediate cease-fire and a peaceful resolution to this man-made conflict. In this regard, the UAE has already made absolutely clear that it is not providing any support or supplies to either of two belligerent warring parties in Sudan.”

The official continued, “the UAE takes its role in protecting the integrity of the international financial system extremely seriously. We remain committed to combating financial crime globally, enhancing international cooperation and developing strategies to address emerging risks.”

A spokesperson for the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has said the arrest of two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region is “indisputable evidence” of Pyongyang’s involvement in the war.

The two unnamed men were captured by Ukrainian forces and have since reportedly been sent to Kyiv for questioning.

“They are held in proper conditions that meet the requirements of international law. The prisoners do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, so communication with them takes place through Korean interpreters in cooperation with South Korean NIS. At the time of his capture, one of the foreigners had a Russian military ID card issued in the name of another person registered in the Republic of Tuva,” said Artem Dekhtyarenko.

He also said that both men were receiving “full medical care”.

In his nightly video address, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the two North Koreans are being questioned by investigators with the help of Korean translators.

Zelenskyy said their capture was “not easy”, claiming that Russian and North Korean forces have tried to conceal the presence of North Korean soldiers on the battlefield, including by killing wounded comrades to avoid their capture and interrogation by Kyiv.

“Both are alive and have already been brought to Kyiv. Now these two are…talking to SSU investigators,” he said.

Zelenskyy went on to say their presence is proof of Russia, “doing everything to prolong and escalate the war.”

There has been no comment from Pyongyang about the capture of the two soldiers but North Korea hasn’t publicly confirmed it has sent troops to support Russia’s war effort.

A senior Ukrainian military official said last month that around 200 North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces in Kursk have been killed or wounded in battle.

The official was providing the first significant estimate of North Korean casualties, which came several weeks after Ukraine announced that Pyongyang had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in its almost 3-year war against its much smaller neighbour.

The White House and Pentagon last month confirmed that the North Korean forces have been battling on the front lines in largely infantry positions. They have been fighting with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy spoke to outgoing US President Joe Biden following the announcement of a new sanctions package on Russia’s critically important energy sector, according to Zelenskyy’s Telegram account.

The sanctions target more than 180 oil-carrying vessels that are suspected to be part of a shadow fleet utilized by the Kremlin to evade oil sanctions, as well as Russian energy majors, traders, oil field service firms and energy officials. Several of the vessels targeted are also suspected of shipping sanctioned Iranian oil, according to the Treasury Department.

“It is very important that America has now struck at Russia’s shadow tanker fleet and at companies such as Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, which accumulate money for Putin personally. He must feel the price of his war, losing from his wallets,” Zelenskyy said, referencing two Russian energy giants blacklisted along with dozens of subsidiaries.

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In response to the sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that “Washington’s hostile actions will not go unanswered,” but did not provide details of any planned countermeasures.

Cross-border strikes

And in Russia, Ukrainian drones slammed into apartment blocks in western Tambov province overnight, blowing out windows and damaging balconies in two five-story blocks, acting regional Governor Yegveniy Pervyshov said.

There were injuries, he said, without giving details.

Russia shot down 85 Ukrainian drones, mostly targeting the south and west, the Defence Ministry reported on Saturday.

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At the same time, Russia attacked Ukraine with 74 drones overnight into Saturday, according to Ukraine’s air force.

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