29 August 2023; MEMO: Sudanese Army Chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has ruled out the possibility of talks with the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, pledging to continue fighting.
“We do not make deals with traitors, we do not make deals with anyone who has betrayed the Sudanese people,” Al-Burhan told soldiers at the Sudanese Navy’s main base at Flamingo Bay in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where he arrived on Sunday, in his first away visit since fighting broke out in April.
“I did not leave the General Command [in Khartoum] based on an agreement or a deal… This is an illusion. It was an organised military action… We do not make deals with traitors,” he added.
Earlier on Sunday, the RSF posted a proposed plan to find a comprehensive solution and establish a new Sudanese state.
The plan includes ten general principles, mostly notably acknowledging the need to establish and build a new and unified Sudanese national military institution that distances itself from politics.
READ: Sudan urges US ambassador to revise position on conflict
Al-Burhan described the RSF as “mercenaries” who came from across the world.
“We know our people in Darfur and Kordofan…in the north, east and west…these groups who invaded Khartoum, Nyala and El Geneina do not resemble the Sudanese,” he said.
On the ground, clashes and air strikes continued in the capital, Khartoum and its surroundings, according to eyewitnesses.
The war resulted in the death of about 5,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), but the actual outcome is likely to be higher.
In four months, more than 4.6 million people have been forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations estimates.
The United Nations World Food Programme warned yesterday that “the conflict in Sudan has led to unprecedented food insecurity,” noting that “more than 20 million people face acute hunger.”
