The United States has announced it will levy sanctions against people "who are perpetuating the violence" in Sudan, as warring sides fail to abide by a ceasefire agreement.
The US Treasury Department has targeted two companies affiliated with Sudan's army and two companies affiliated with the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), accusing them of generating revenue from the conflict and contributing to the fighting.
"Through sanctions, we are cutting off key financial flows to both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, depriving them of resources needed to pay soldiers, rearm, resupply, and wage war in Sudan," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.
Visa restrictions will also be imposed on specific people in Sudan, including officials from both warring sides and leaders from the former Omar al-Bashir regime, who are "responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Sudan’s democratic transition," according to the State Department.
The move by the US marks the first punitive measures imposed under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in May that paved the way for new Sudan-related sanctions amid the fighting.
The US has urged Sudan's warring sides to return to ceasefire talks and make a concerted effort to abide by a lasting truce after peace efforts collapsed yet again.
The appeal came after Sudan's military on Wednesday suspended its participation in the talks, hosted in Saudi Arabia, with a rival paramilitary force.
Fighting between the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out on April 15.
The violence has killed at least 866 civilians, according to a Sudanese doctors group, though the actual toll is likely much higher.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced inside Sudan, and an additional 400,000 have fled across borders — including 100,000 to neighbouring Chad, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.
Violence escalates
On Wednesday, at least 19 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded after rockets hit a market south of Sudan's capital Khartoum.
It was the largest number of people killed by shelling in an attack around the capital since fighting broke out two months ago.
A member of a local neighbourhood committee said the number of dead and injured was higher than official tallies as several people had been treated or buried at home by relatives wary of venturing to hospital.
Residents have reported an increase in fighting in parts of the capital and said heavy artillery fire could be heard in northern Omdurman and intermittent firing in southern Bahri.
Washington and Riyadh brokered a ceasefire on May 21, to allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and restoration of vital services.
There have been seven declared ceasefires since the conflict broke out and all have been violated.
The nearly seven weeks of fighting has reduced the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to an urban battlefield, with many districts without electricity and running water.
The conflict has also stoked ethnic violence in the western Darfur region, killing hundreds there.
Reuters/AP
