Sudan’s army chief and head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on Friday ruled out any truce or peace talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) unless the group first surrenders its weapons.
Speaking to residents during a visit to the village of al-Siraih in central Al-Gazira State, al-Burhan said: “If the rebels do not put their weapons on the ground and sit down, there will be no dialogue or peace. We will not accept them in Sudan, nor those who stand with them.”
He vowed that the army would continue fighting until the “rebellion” is defeated.
“Either we eliminate them, or we keep fighting them until we give our lives. We will have no truce, no talks, and no peace with them,” he said.
Al-Burhan said all Sudanese “have been burned by this war,” but insisted that the country’s “national unity and shared destiny” remain intact.
He reiterated that the military’s position since the start of the conflict has been that the war will end only with the defeat of the RSF.
“The Sudanese have suffered at the hands of these rebels — they killed, tortured, looted, and brutalized people — and they will receive nothing from us except what makes them taste suffering,” he said.
The Sudanese leader stressed that the army has no intention of entering negotiations.
“We assure our people that these killers and criminals have no place with us in Sudan,” he said. “If you want peace, gather these mercenaries in one place and collect their weapons. Without that, no one will speak to them.”
Al-Burhan called on all able-bodied Sudanese to join the fight, saying the war “will not end through negotiations or a truce but through defeating the rebellion.”
His remarks follow calls earlier this week by US envoy Masaad Boulos urging Sudan’s warring sides “to immediately agree to and implement a proposed humanitarian truce.”
Last week, the RSF said it had agreed to join a humanitarian pause proposed by the Quad group — the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.
Last month, the RSF captured El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, where it has been accused of carrying out massacres. The group now controls all five Darfur states, while the army holds most of Sudan’s remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.
Darfur accounts for around one-fifth of Sudan’s territory, though the majority of the country’s 50 million people live in areas under army control.