Congress calls on the Departments of State and Treasury to designate the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organization

Republican Senator Jim Risch, of the House Foreign Relations Committee, called for an assessment of the Rapid Support Forces operating in Sudan as a terrorist organization. This was after he requested an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which appropriations the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the determination of the eligibility of personnel and military personnel, among other purposes, according to a memorandum published by the US Congress on its website.
The memorandum states: (In the appropriate place in subtitle (e) of Title XII, insert the following: Article 12___. Assessment of African Armed Groups (M23) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for Designation as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.) The memorandum continued:
(a) In general – The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, shall assess whether the following organizations meet the criteria for designation as foreign terrorist organizations under Article 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189):
(1) The M23 movement operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
(2) The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) operating in Sudan.
The memorandum set a maximum time limit of three months for the U.S. government to respond, stating, “Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a classified report containing the results of the assessment described in subparagraph (a).” Subparagraph (a) indicates that the Departments of State, Treasury, and the Attorney General are responsible for submitting the report to the Committees on Foreign Relations and the Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, according to the memorandum’s definition of the congressional committees concerned with this assessment. Confirmed follow-ups indicate “great concern has begun to grip the information and intelligence community” in several major capitals following the spread of rapid-fire militias in the desert south of Libya and the Sahel region. They are closely linked to the Russian Wagner Group, which is actively operating there, along with their ongoing overlap and overlap in logistics, movement, and recruitment of fighters with extremist jihadist groups operating in the desert, such as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Azawad Liberation Movement (MNLA), which is affiliated with Arab Tuareg groups. ISIS, too, has retreated to the desert south of Libya and relies on imposing transit taxes on miners in the Sahara, northeastern Chad, and the Nigerien desert. It’s worth noting that the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) today launched the “West Africa Logistics 2025” conference in the Liberian capital, Monrovia. AFRICOM also conducted its largest military exercise last month in the Kingdom of Morocco, with the participation of most chiefs of staff and delegations from countries across the African continent and around the world.