A group of four US congressmen called on Friday for President Joe Biden to sanction Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (commonly known as Hemedti), for gross violations of human rights.

Senators Benjamin Cardin and James Risch of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, together with Representatives Michael McCaul and Gregory Meeks of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote an open letter to the president. They cited the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and requested a determination of whether RSF and Hemedti have engaged in prohibited activities under the act, such as gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. If they were found to have committed such violations, the act would authorize sanctions against the relevant individuals and entities.

The letter also recommended Biden sanction General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, the leader of the ruling Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), under Executive Order 14098 for undermining Sudan’s democratic transition and perpetuating atrocities in the ongoing conflict, among other wrongdoings.

The Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, passed in 2016, enables the US government to sanction foreign governments for human rights abuses. The act has previously been invoked to sanction a wide range of individuals allegedly involved in human rights abuse under Executive Order 13818. The EU and Canada also enacted similar laws to coordinate sanction efforts.

The conflict between SAF and RSF erupted in April 2023 over a failed political agreement. The violent conflict has exacerbated the pre-existing human rights issues in the country, such as extrajudicial killing, arbitrary detention and targeting of journalists. Earlier this year, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that both SAF and RSF have committed human rights abuses. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also determined that combatants on both sides have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in Sudan.

President Biden is expected to act within 120 days of the letters’ receipt.