Senator Jim Risch, a Republican from Idaho and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, US, April 26, 2022. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

Republican and Democratic US senators called for a strong response from President Donald Trump’s administration after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized new territory in Sudan, reportedly attacking civilians.

Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for the US to officially designate the RSF as a foreign terrorist organization.

“The horrors in Darfur’s El-Fasher were no accident — they were the RSF’s plan all along. The RSF has waged terror and committed unspeakable atrocities, genocide among them, against the Sudanese people,” he said in a statement on X on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the committee’s top Democrat, said she most likely would back such a response from Washington. Asked whether she would back an FTO designation, Shaheen told reporters, “Probably,” but added she would like to take a longer look at the issue.

Shaheen criticized the United Arab Emirates, which is accused by the Sudanese army of providing military support to the RSF. The UAE denies it. “The UAE has been an irresponsible player who has contributed to one of the worst humanitarian crises that we have on the planet right now,” she said.

In an emailed statement, the UAE Strategic Communications Department said the UAE has consistently supported efforts to achieve a ceasefire, protect civilians and ensure accountability for violations and rejected claims it provided any form of support to either warring party.

“The latest UN Panel of Experts report makes clear that there is no substantiated evidence that the UAE has provided any support to RSF, or has any involvement in the conflict,” the statement said.

The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the army and the RSF, unleashing waves of ethnic violence, creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and plunging several areas into famine. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and about 13 million displaced.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans for designating the RSF.

In January, the administration of Trump’s Democratic predecessor, then-President Joe Biden, said it determined that members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and imposed sanctions on the group’s leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

The RSF denied harming civilians.

Al-Fashir, the Sudanese army’s last significant holdout in the western region of Darfur, fell to the RSF on Sunday after an 18-month siege that consolidated its control of the area. Aid groups and activists have warned of the potential for ethnically motivated revenge attacks as the RSF overwhelmed the army and allied fighters, many from the Zaghawa ethnic group.

Sudanese paramilitary forces beat and shot men fleeing from a long-besieged city in Darfur after capturing it, according to an account from escapee Ikram Abdelhameed, corroborated by statements from aid officials, satellite images, and unverified social media videos.