The US Department of State announced on Monday that it has designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation due to its role in widespread violence against civilians during the war in Sudan.
In a statement, the State Department said the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood – comprising the Sudanese Islamic Movement and its armed wing, Al Baraa ibn Malik Brigade – has used “unrestrained violence against civilians” to destabilise the country and advance a violent Islamist ideology.
The department also accused the group of contributing more than 20,000 fighters to the war in Sudan. Many had received training and support from Iran, it added.
“Fighters have conducted mass executions of civilians in areas they captured and repeatedly carried out summary executions based on race, ethnicity, or perceived affiliation with opposition groups,” the statement read.
The US, EU and UK have already imposed dozens of sanctions on senior Sudanese military and paramilitary officials they accuse of war crimes and atrocities.
The war in Sudan began in April 2023 when tensions between Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and Rapid Support Forces commander Gen Hamdan Dagalo over the future of the armed forces and the paramilitary group in a democratic Sudan erupted into fighting.
The conflict initially engulfed the capital, Khartoum, before spreading across much of the vast Afro-Arab nation. The US imposed sanctions on Gen Al Burhan in January 2025.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed during nearly three years of conflict and more than 12 million have been displaced. The country is suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with nearly half the population – about 25 million people – facing hunger.
Last May, the US determined that the Sudanese government had used chemical weapons in 2024.
