Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to sanction (a) General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and (b) Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo; and whether she plans to request that the International Criminal Court issue an international arrest warrant for them.

Since the outbreak of conflict in April 2023, the UK has frozen the assets of nine commercial entities linked to the parties involved in the conflict: five entities linked with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and four entities linked with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). These sanctions were designed to press the parties to engage in a sustained and meaningful peace process, allow humanitarian access and to commit to a permanent cessation of hostilities. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK also supported the imposition of UN sanctions on two RSF generals for their crimes against civilians in Darfur in November 2024.

We do not speculate on future designations as it would undermine their effectiveness. The UK strongly supports the International Criminal Court's (ICC) active investigation into the situation in Darfur, including allegations of crimes committed since April 2023. The Prosecutor of the ICC is independent, but we welcome the conviction on 6 October of former Janjaweed commander Ali Kushayb for war crimes and crimes against humanity, carried out in Darfur between 2003-2004. This is a victory for accountability and shows that justice can be served no matter how many years ago the crimes took place.