A year after El Fasher fell, Britain hits military leaders from both sides of Sudan's war with travel bans and asset freezes over sexual violence.
Africa's attention is back on Sudan. On the first anniversary of the fall of El Fasher, the United Kingdom has sanctioned senior military commanders suspected of driving a campaign of sexual violence during the siege of the city.
The measures are a travel ban and an asset freeze. London says they target leaders from both sides of Sudan's ongoing conflict, not just one camp. The commanders are accused of being implicated in rape carried out as the city came under siege and then fell.
The timing is deliberate. El Fasher's collapse saw tens of thousands of civilians killed over just a few days, which has been described as the largest and fastest slaughter of civilians in more than 30 years. Twelve months on, survivors and families are still living with the aftermath, and rape and sexual violence remain among the most devastating and least discussed parts of the crisis.
Sanctions like these will not bring back the dead or heal survivors, but they signal that the world is still watching and that those suspected of such crimes can be named, blocked from travel and cut off from their money. For Sudanese communities at home and across the diaspora, the question now is whether this pressure leads to real accountability and an end to the violence.
