Sudan army chief says war will not end until RSF lays down its arms

Sudan army chief says war will not end until RSF lays down its arms

Sudan's army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan gave his first televised address since the military captured Khartoum

Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan vowed Saturday that his troops will fight on until the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) lays down its weapons.

In his first televised address since the military recaptured the capital Khartoum this week, Burhan said that an end to nearly two years of devastating fighting is possible "if this militia lays down its arms".

He ruled out any negotiations with the paramilitaries, pledging to hunt down the last RSF fighters.

"We will neither forgive, nor compromise, nor negotiate," Burhan said, adding that victory would only be complete when "the last rebel has been eradicated from the last corner of Sudan".

Burhan's speech came just days after he triumphantly entered the presidential palace, which had been under RSF control since the war erupted nearly two years ago.

Stepping off a military aircraft, he knelt to kiss the ground and raised his fist towards the sky before marching through the palace gates.

The army, which had suffered heavy losses for 18 months, launched a fierce counteroffensive in November last year that pushed through central Sudan towards the capital.

In a decisive blitz in Khartoum last week, the military reclaimed the presidential palace, the airport and other strategic sites.

The RSF has been forced to pull back, though its leaders remain defiant, vowing "no surrender".

Hours after Burhan walked back into the presidential palace, the RSF announced a "military alliance" with a faction of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, which controls parts of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in the country's south.

The SPLM-N had clashed with both sides, before signing a political charter with the RSF last month to establish a rival government.

On Thursday evening, witnesses in the Blue Nile state capital Damazin reported that both its airport and the nearby Roseires Dam came under drone attack by the paramilitaries and their allies for the first time in the war. 

The army later said that it had shot down the RSF drones.

On Saturday, the RSF claimed to have seized a military base, about 140 kilometers southwest of Damazin. 

The war has devastated Sudan, killing tens of thousands and displacing more than 12 million.

The country is now effectively split in two, with the army holding the north and east, while the RSF controls most of Darfur in the west and much of the south.

maf/kir

Originally published as Sudan army chief says war will not end until RSF lays down its arms