The UK imposed new sanctions on six key figures fuelling Sudan’s war from both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement issued today.
The sanctions target Hussein Barsham, an RSF field commander accused of mass atrocities and ethnic violence in Darfur. They also target Abu Agla Keikil, an RSF defector and commander of the Sudan Shield Forces, who is now a senior SAF commander linked to brutal attacks against the Kanabi farming communities in El Gezira. The sanctions further target Mustafa Ibrahim Abdel Nabi Mohamed, director of the UK-sanctioned Alkhaleej Bank Co Ltd, who is suspected of financing the RSF’s military campaign.
UK sanction measures also further name Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, Mateo Andres Duque Botero and Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra, accused of recruiting former Colombian soldiers to fight for the RSF.
The measures take effect immediately and form part of the UK’s stated effort to “dismantle Sudan’s war machine”, ramping up international pressure ahead of London’s UN Security Council presidency later this month.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the sanctions after visiting the Sudan–Chad border, where she met refugees who had fled the violence, including women and girls subjected to sexual assault. “At the Sudan-Chad border this week, I met women and children who have suffered unimaginable violence, and barely escaped with their lives,” she said.
“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.”
Cooper said accountability was central to the UK’s approach. “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,” she said.
In December, the FCDO added an additional £21 million to support the relief effort, taking the UK contribution to £146 million and providing “lifesaving aid to more than 800,000 people,” the statement said.
The UK will prioritise Sudan during its UN Security Council presidency in February, pushing for humanitarian access, accountability, and international pressure to end the war, building on December 2025 sanctions against four RSF commanders.
