Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has promised to continue a nine-month war between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rejecting the latest peace efforts.
RSF head Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo agreed earlier this week to a ceasefire proposed by civilian groups, contingent on the military also agreeing. But observers responded sceptically in light of the paramilitary force’s prior unfulfilled promises.
“The whole world witnessed these rebel forces committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in West Darfur and the rest of Sudan. For that reason, we have no reconciliation with them, we have no agreement with them,” al-Burhan, who is also Sudan’s head of state, told troops gathered in Port Sudan in video released by his office on Friday.
He was referring to ethnic cleansing in and around the West Darfur city of El Geneina.
The United States has accused both the army and RSF of war crimes, and it says the RSF is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
The war that began on April 15 has devastated wide swaths of Sudan and displaced more than 7.5 million people.
With the RSF appearing to gain the upper hand in the fight, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an African trade bloc, got al-Burhan and Dagalo last month to agree to an in-person meeting.
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