U.S. sanctions Indian executive over explosives supply tied to Sudan war

The Treasury Department sanctioned Alok Choudhari, an Indian executive and the chief executive of SBL Energy Limited, and seven other people and entities on Friday over procurement and recruitment networks helping sustain Sudan’s civil war. The networks enabled both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to expand and intensify the fighting, while Treasury called for an immediate, unconditional three-month humanitarian truce.

Treasury tied SBL Energy Limited, also known as Amin Explosive Private Limited, to more than 200 shipments of explosives and explosives-related materials sent to Target Multiactivities Company Ltd, or TMAC, a Sudan-based firm controlled by Sudan’s Defense Industries System and used to maintain the SAF arsenal. The sanctions also reached other companies based in Sudan and Egypt.

The sanctions can cut off access to U.S. financial channels and make trade, insurance and banking far more difficult for the targeted firms and people.

Sudan’s fighting began on April 15, 2023, and the humanitarian toll has climbed sharply since then. By April 2026, United Nations agencies put the figure at nearly 34 million people, or about 65% of the population, needing humanitarian support. The United Nations and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs put the number of internally displaced people at about 9.3 million and the number of people who had fled across borders at roughly 4.4 million, while UN humanitarian planning for 2026 put the number of people in need at 33.7 million and the number targeted for aid at 20.4 million.

Friday’s action followed earlier U.S. steps against conflict financiers and armed actors in Sudan, including sanctions on entities funding the war in January 2024, sanctions on RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, known as Hemedti, and related companies in January 2025, and a move in April 2026 targeting a recruitment network that brought former Colombian military personnel into the fight for the RSF.