The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group was beaten back from their position in the Sudanese capital by the Sudanese army earlier this week. The change of command marked an important point in the two-year civil war.
The head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group admitted in a speech Sunday that the group has withdrawn from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, after controlling the city for nearly two years during the civil war.
The admission came after the Sudanese army declared on Thursday that the capital was “free” from the control of militias that gained control of the city after the war broke out in April 2023.
The commander of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo said three days ago there would be “no retreat and no surrender” and that its forces had “repositioned” after rival army forces had recaptured the capital.
RSF withdrawal represents a symbolic turning point in Sudan’s civil war
Dagalo wrote on social media that “I confirm to you that we have indeed left Khartoum, but… we will return with even stronger determination.”
“All those who think that there are negotiations or agreements in process with this diabolical movement are mistaken,” he said, referencing the Sudanese army. “We have neither agreement nor discussion with them, only the language of arms.”
Sudan in the grip of world’s worst hunger crisis
The war has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis.
More than 12 million people have been uprooted, tens of thousands killed, and a UN-backed assessment has declared famine in parts of the country.
But army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Saturday also vowed not to back down, after a decisive blitz in which his forces reclaimed the presidential palace, the airport and other key sites in the city center.
“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”.
US remains invested in helping broker peace to end war
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously said on Thursday that Washington hoped to do more diplomatically to end the war in Sudan.
Rubio said he was “engaged” on Sudan and had discussed the war in recent days with international players, including Kenyan President William Ruto and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken had extensively tried to help put an end to the war but ultimately voiced disappointment at his failure to do so, having accused both sides of committing atrocities.
The US has imposed sanctions on both sides, accusing the army of attacks on civilians and saying the RSF had “committed genocide” in the western region of Darfur.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
DW News
