Sudan Civil War: US Sanctions Indian Firm Raipur CEO Among 8 Entities Says “These Networks Deliver Explosives…”. | Today’s news
The United States has imposed sanctions on eight individuals and entities, including an Indian national linked to an explosives company, over allegations they helped fuel Sudan’s ongoing civil war.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement on Friday that the sanctioned networks allowed both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) to strengthen and prolong the conflict in the African country.
Among those sanctioned is Raipur-based Alok Choudhari, CEO of SBL Energy Limited, also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited. According to OFAC, the company supplied more than 200 shipments of explosives and related materials to a firm responsible for maintaining the SAF’s weapons stockpile.
The Ministry of Finance also imposed sanctions on SBL Energy Limited and other firms based in Sudan and Egypt.
What did the US State Department say?
“These networks supply weapons, explosives, and foreign fighters to both the Sudanese armed forces and Rapid Support Forces. Their support has prolonged the conflict, which has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and provided space for terrorist groups to operate,” Tommy Pigott, a spokesman for the US State Department, said in a statement.
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Raipur-based SBL Energy allegedly supplied explosives and related material to Sudan-based Target Multiactivities Company (TMAC), the US Treasury said. The explosives were subsequently used in bombs deployed by the SAF.
TMAC and its CEO, senior DIS officer Tariq Hussain Muhammad Madani, were also blacklisted.
According to the US Treasury Department, the Defense Industries System (DIS), Sudan’s largest defense enterprise, supports and maintains the SAF’s arsenal of weapons, ammunition, vehicles and materiel, often obtained from Iran and other external backers.
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DIS controls numerous subsidiaries, including the Sudanese conglomerate Giad Industrial Group (Giad) – also known as Sudan Master Technology – through complex and opaque structures from which it has generated billions of dollars.
DIS’s acquisition of military equipment and related materiel enabled the SAF to maintain combat operations against the RSF, conduct attacks against civilians and repel and defend efforts to cease hostilities and achieve a ceasefire, the US Treasury said, adding that DIS and Giad were sanctioned in 2023.
OFAC also designated Ports Engineering Company Ltd, a state-owned civil engineering firm established in 1998 and headquartered in Port Sudan.
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According to US authorities, the firm was linked to Sudan Master Technology and, after the conflict broke out in April 2023, imported military uniforms and footwear for Sudan’s intelligence services from a company in the United Arab Emirates, as well as ammunition belts and gun holsters from a Turkish company.
The sanctions also targeted individuals allegedly linked to a transnational network that recruited former Colombian military personnel to fight alongside the Rapid Support Force (RSF).
The network, headed by former Colombian officer Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra and his wife Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, has previously been sanctioned by the United States.
U.S. authorities also imposed sanctions on three individuals associated with Panama-based Talent Bridge SA, who they say were used to conceal the activities of the recruitment network.
Those sanctioned include Panamanian citizens Enrique Daniel Palacios Quintanilla and Jack Peter Derman Guzman, along with Colombian citizen Fredy Alejandro Lopez Ocampo, all of whom held executive or managerial positions at the company.
