The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday imposed travel bans and financial freezes on four commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, accusing them of atrocities in Darfur and citing evidence described by U.N. experts as showing “hallmarks of genocide.” The designations follow a report from U.N.-backed human rights experts detailing mass killings and other abuses connected to the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher, the North Darfur capital, after an 18-month siege.

The sanctioned commanders were added to the U.N. blacklist for their activities in El Fasher, particularly the day the RSF took over the city on Oct. 26. The U.N. also said the fighting during the RSF takeover left several thousand civilians dead, and that only 40% of the city’s 260,000 residents managed to flee the onslaught, with thousands wounded; the fate of the rest remained unknown, according to U.N. officials cited by the Security Council.

Among those listed are two deputy commanders: Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo and Lt. Gen. Gedo Hamdan Ahmed. In Dagalo’s case, the Security Council committee monitoring Sudan sanctions said footage believed to be of him shows him giving direct orders to fighters “to not take captives but to kill everyone.” The committee added that Dagalo had previously been described as playing a key role in many of the RSF’s offensives in Sudan’s border regions and that he was seen as the commander in control of the RSF.

The Security Council committee also described the violence for which Dagalo was implicated as including targeted executions of non-Arab communities, along with reports of widespread sexual violence and kidnappings. The committee said it received reports of gang rapes carried out in front of relatives and described kidnappings that included medical staff being held for ransom.

The committee said Ahmed, also known as Abu Nashuk, was one of six generals in El Fasher and appeared in video footage alongside Dagalo on Oct. 26 as RSF forces committed mass killings of civilians. The U.N. committee also pointed to other RSF commanders, including RSF Brig. Gen. Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, known as Abu Lulu and described by the U.N. as “the Butcher of el-Fasher,” whom the committee called “a key perpetrator” of violence on the day of the takeover.

The U.N. sanctions statement cited by the Security Council committee said Abu Lulu gave orders to kill innocent people and that video footage shows him executing civilians and boasting about killing more than 2,000. The committee said the videos were shot by the paramilitary forces themselves, adding that it said Abu Lulu filmed himself smiling while people begged for mercy, and that other footage showed ethnically targeted executions and shots at unarmed men, including scenes in which he posed among corpses.

A fourth commander sanctioned by the U.N. this week was field commander Tijani Ibrahim Moussa Mohamed, also known as Al Zeir Salem. The Security Council committee said he appeared in video in El Fasher on Oct. 26.

Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. diplomat and Sudan expert, said on X that the limited number of commanders sanctioned by the U.N. this week included members of the Janjaweed, which Hudson described as the RSF’s predecessor militia in Darfur. Hudson urged the U.N. to “sanction the entire group as what they are: terrorists,” and he told The Associated Press that the sanctions were “an important step” toward restoring U.N. accountability and role in Sudan, adding that the U.N. should use the moment to redouble efforts to end fighting and ensure accountability for RSF offenses.