CAIRO (Reuters) – Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al Burhan on Friday rejected any prospect of reconciliation with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and vowed to continue the war started nine months ago against the paramilitaries.
On Tuesday, the leader of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias Hemedti, said he was ready for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire through negotiations with the army in an “Addis Ababa declaration” co-signed with the Taqadum Coalition of Democratic Civil Forces.
This declaration was greeted with skepticism by observers, as the paramilitary group has multiplied broken promises since the start of its conflict with the regular army on April 15, 2023.
The United States, in particular, accuses both the army and the RSF of war crimes and also believes that the paramilitaries are responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
“The whole world is witnessing the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by these rebel forces in West Darfur and the rest of Sudan,” General Burhan, who is also the head of state, referring to the ethnic cleansing operations carried out in and around the town of El Geneina.
In his speech, the video of which was broadcast by his services, General Burhan described his rival as a “clown”, a “traitor” and a “coward”, removing any idea of a one-on-one dialogue between the two men, as Igad (Intergovernmental Authority for Development) strives to promote, which brings together several East African countries and has already attempted several mediations to end the conflict.
The Sudanese army chief also criticized the leaders of African countries – South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya – who received Hemedti as a head of state during his recent regional tour.
“He humiliates the Sudanese people, he kills them, he insults them and some applaud him and laugh with him,” said Abdel Fattah al Burhan.
“Sudan is engaged in an existential battle (…) to live free or in slavery and colonialism,” added the general, while the army accuses the United Arab Emirates of supporting the paramilitaries.
(Reporting Nafisa Eltahir; Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version)
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