The US named Alok Choudhari, CEO of Raipur-based SBL Energy Limited, among those blacklisted for allegedly sending more than 200 shipments of explosives to a company that maintained the Sudanese military's arsenal. (AI-generated image)
The United States has imposed sanctions on eight individuals and entities, including an Indian businessman and his explosives company, on charges of supplying weapons and material that have prolonged the civil war in Sudan.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control named Alok Choudhari, chief executive of Raipur-based SBL Energy Limited, among those blacklisted on Friday for allegedly sending more than 200 shipments of explosives to a company that maintained the Sudanese military’s arsenal.
SBL Energy Limited, also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited, allegedly supplied explosives and related materials to Sudan-based Target Multiactivities Company, which in turn provided them for use in bombs deployed by the Sudanese Armed Forces, the Treasury Department said.
Both the company and its Raipur-based CEO have been placed on the sanctions list, alongside Target Multiactivities Company and its general manager, Tariq Hussain Muhammad Madani, a senior officer in Sudan’s Defence Industries System.
The US State Department said the targeted networks had been supplying weapons, explosives and foreign fighters to both sides of the conflict, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the rival Rapid Support Forces.
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“Their support has prolonged a conflict that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and provided space for terrorist groups to operate,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
Sudan’s defence network in the crosshairs
The Treasury Department also sanctioned Sudan’s Defence Industries System, the country’s largest defence enterprise, along with its subsidiary Giad Industrial Group, though both had previously been blacklisted in 2023.
The system controls a network of subsidiaries through which it has generated billions of dollars, often acquiring military equipment from Iran and other external suppliers, according to US authorities.
Also sanctioned was Ports Engineering Company, a state-owned firm based in Port Sudan, which allegedly imported military uniforms, ammunition belts and weapons cases from suppliers in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey since the conflict began in April 2023.
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Colombian fighters recruited for Sudan
The sanctions also targeted a separate network accused of recruiting former Colombian military personnel to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces.
Three individuals linked to Panama-based Talent Bridge were blacklisted: Enrique Daniel Palacios Quintanilla, Jack Peter Derman Guzman and Fredy Alejandro Lopez Ocampo for allegedly helping to conceal the recruitment operation. The network is led by retired Colombian officer Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra and his wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, whom Washington previously sanctioned.
Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has displaced millions and created what the United Nations describes as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
(With inputs from PTI)
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