Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The US on Friday imposed sanctions on eight people and entities, including an Indian national linked to an explosives manufacturing firm, for allegedly helping fuel the civil war in Sudan. The action was announced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department.
The US said the targeted networks had enabled both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to expand and intensify the conflict. “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,” US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
advertisement
Among those sanctioned is Alok Choudhari of Raipur, the chief executive officer of SBL Energy Limited, also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited. The US alleged that the company supplied more than 200 shipments of explosives and related materials to a company that maintained the arsenal of the Sudanese Armed Forces. The Treasury Department also sanctioned SBL Energy Limited and other firms based in Sudan and Egypt.
According to the US Treasury Department, Raipur-based SBL Energy supplied explosives and related material to Sudan-based Target Multiactivities Company, or TMAC, and those explosives were later used in bombs deployed by the Sudanese Armed Forces. TMAC and its general manager, senior DIS officer Tariq Hussain Muhammad Madani, have also been blacklisted. The department said the Defence Industries System, or DIS, Sudan’s largest defence enterprise, supports and maintains the Sudanese Armed Forces’ arsenal of arms, ammunition, vehicles and material, often acquired from Iran and other external backers.
The US said DIS controls several subsidiaries, including Giad Industrial Group, also known as Sudan Master Technology, through complex structures that have generated billions of dollars. It alleged that DIS’s acquisition of military equipment and related material had helped the Sudanese Armed Forces sustain combat operations against the Rapid Support Forces, carry out attacks on civilians, and obstruct ceasefire efforts. DIS and Giad were sanctioned in 2023. OFAC also designated Ports Engineering Company Ltd, a state-owned civil engineering construction firm based in Port Sudan. Linked to Sudan Master Technology, the firm reportedly imported military uniforms and footwear for Sudanese intelligence from a company in the United Arab Emirates, along with ammunition belts and weapons cases from a Turkish firm after the conflict began in April 2023.
The restrictions also targeted people linked to a transnational network that recruits former Colombian military personnel to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces. The network is led by retired Colombian officer Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra and his wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, who had already been sanctioned by Washington. US authorities also blacklisted three people associated with Panama-based Talent Bridge, SA, which was allegedly used to conceal the recruitment operation. They are Panamanian nationals Enrique Daniel Palacios Quintanilla and Jack Peter Derman Guzman, and Colombian national Fredy Alejandro Lopez Ocampo. The latest sanctions bring together allegations involving explosives supplies, military procurement and foreign fighter recruitment linked to the war in Sudan.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
