Washington: The United States on Friday slapped sanctions on eight people and companies accused of fuelling Sudan’s ongoing civil war by supplying weapons, explosives and foreign fighters, PTI reported.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the designated networks helped both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expand and intensify the conflict.
Among those named was Alok Choudhari, a Raipur-based executive who runs SBL Energy Limited, also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited. According to the US Treasury, SBL sent more than 200 shipments of explosives and related materials to a Sudanese firm that sustained the SAF’s stockpile.
SBL Shipments Linked To SAF
The Treasury said the materials shipped by SBL Energy reached Target Multiactivities Company (TMAC), based in Sudan, and were later used in bombs employed by the SAF. TMAC and its general manager, Tariq Hussain Muhammad Madani — identified as a senior officer in Sudan’s Defense Industries System (DIS) — have also been placed on the blacklist.
US officials describe DIS as Sudan’s largest defence organisation, responsible for maintaining the SAF’s weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other materiel. The Treasury said DIS acquires much of this equipment from outside backers, including Iran, and uses complex, opaque corporate structures to channel revenue. Its sprawling network includes the Giad Industrial Group, known also as Sudan Master Technology, which OFAC previously sanctioned in 2023.
The Treasury also targeted Ports Engineering Company Ltd, a state-owned civil engineering firm in Port Sudan founded in 1998. Linked to Sudan Master Technology, the firm allegedly imported military uniforms and footwear for Sudanese intelligence from a UAE supplier, along with ammunition belts and weapons cases from a Turkish company after the conflict began in April 2023.
Transnational Recruitments Targeted
In addition to arms and explosives suppliers, Washington sanctioned people tied to a cross-border recruitment network that hires former Colombian soldiers to fight for the RSF. The network is led by retired Colombian officer Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra and his wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero — who have been previously sanctioned by US authorities.
Three executives connected to Panama-based Talent Bridge, SA — which US officials say was used to conceal recruitment activities — were blacklisted: Panamanians Enrique Daniel Palacios Quintanilla and Jack Peter Derman Guzman, and Colombian Fredy Alejandro Lopez Ocampo.
“These networks supply weapons, explosives, and foreign fighters to both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Their support has prolonged a conflict that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and provided space for terrorist groups to operate,” Tommy Pigott, a spokesperson for the US Department of State, said in a statement.
