Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has told troops in Port Sudan that time has come to “end the rebellion” by paramilitaries, promising victory four months into a brutal war.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Burhan's deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, had besieged the army chief inside military headquarters in Khartoum for the past four months.
But last week, Burhan made his first public foray outside the headquarters to review troops in parts of the war-scarred country.
That led to speculation in the local media that Burhan and Dagalo had negotiated a deal – a move the army chief staunchly denied in his defiant speech to soldiers in Port Sudan.
"No one helped me out of the army headquarters. I did not come as a result of any agreement. It was a successful military operation," Burhan said in the Red Sea port city on Monday.
Only functioning airport
Port Sudan – where government officials and the United Nations have relocated operations – is the site of Sudan's only functioning airport.
"We are mobilising everywhere to defeat this rebellion, defeat this treason, by these mercenaries who come from all over the world," Burhan told cheering troops.
"There is no time for discussion now, we are concentrating all our efforts on the war, to put an end to the rebellion," he said.
His comments come a day after Dagalo released a statement detailing a 10-point "vision" to end the war and build "a new state".
Single national military
The plan calls for "civilian rule based on democratic norms" and "a single, professional, national military institution" – the very sticking point which turned the former allies into rivals.
Before they fell out, Burhan, backed by Dagalo, became Sudan's de facto ruler in a 2021 coup that derailed a fragile transition to civilian rule. The RSF "started this war by saying 'this is the army of the old regime and the Islamists,' this is a lie," Burhan said on Monday.
Conservative estimates from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project show that nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
But the real figure is thought to be much higher, and the UN says more than 4.6 million people have been displaced by the fighting both inside and outside Sudan.
Fighting meanwhile continued on Monday in Khartoum, where residents reported street battles as fighter-jets flew overhead.
