Sudan’s army chief demands RSF disarmament as prelude to peace

Sudan’s Sovereign Council chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said on Monday that any proposal to end the conflict in the country that does not include the dismantling and disarmament of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is “completely unacceptable.”

Speaking in Port Sudan during a memorial service for members of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) — the movement led by Darfur governor Minni Arko Minawi — who were killed in the fighting against the RSF, al-Burhan insisted that the scale of destruction caused by the war leaves little room for compromise.

Several armed movements in Darfur that had previously signed peace agreements with Khartoum joined the Sudanese army after the conflict with the RSF erupted in April 2023, including Minawi’s SLA.

The war between the army and the RSF has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing tens of thousands and displacing an estimated 13 million people.

Al-Burhan, who also serves as commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, said that “options and solutions have become limited due to the extent of the bloodshed, the number of martyrs and the suffering across large areas of Sudan, especially in Darfur and El Fasher.”