The United States has imposed sanctions against two commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)

The United States has imposed sanctions against two commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as rights groups and the United Nations warn that deadly violence in the North Darfur region is escalating.

The US Department of the Treasury said that the sanctions targeted the RSF’s Central Darfur commander, Ali Yagoub Gibril, and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, a major-general who heads the group’s operational planning

The RSF has encircled el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, in recent weeks and fighting between the paramilitary group and the Sudanese Armed Forces has surged.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the violence in el-Fasher put more than 800,000 civilians at risk