US sanctions Indian CEO, firm for fuelling civil war in Sudan

The US imposed sanctions on eight persons and entities, including an Indian national associated with an explosives manufacturing firm, for allegedly fuelling the civil war in Sudan. The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday said the targeted networks enabled both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to expand and intensify civil war in the African nation. Among the sanctioned individuals is Alok Choudhari of Raipur, the Chief Executive Officer of SBL Energy Limited, also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited, which allegedly supplied over 200 shipments of explosives and explosive-related materials to a company that maintained the SAF's arsenal,US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
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 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.