NAIROBI
Sudan’s Sovereignty Council Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the army remains determined to defeat the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but stressed that it remains open to what he called “genuine” peace initiatives, the state news agency SUNA reported Saturday.
In an address marking the 72nd anniversary of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Burhan said Friday the army’s determination to fight and defeat the RSF “does not mean turning a blind eye to any genuine initiative for peace,” according to the state news agency SUNA.
“Our efforts toward this have not stopped since the first months of the rebellion, but we will not accept an incomplete peace or a peace that returns the criminals and killers, the (RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan) Dagalo militia and its supporters, to power or participation in it,” he said.
“Our position has been clear since May 2023: The path to peace begins with this militia laying down its arms and gathering in designated areas, citizens returning to their areas, and life returning to normal, with services, security, protection and monitoring,” Burhan said.
“After that, the situation of fighters who are not criminals can be considered,” he added.
Purely Sudanese dialogue
On the political track, Burhan said he had begun a dialogue with national and sectoral groups that “supported the Sudanese state and backed its unity and institutions” with a view to involving them in completing state institutions, including the legislative council.
He described establishing the legislative council as “a constitutional requirement.”
Burhan also said that amid what he called the country’s “strained political reality,” a group of Sudanese men and women had independently launched an initiative based on “a firm conviction that overcoming this ordeal can only be achieved through a purely Sudanese dialogue.”
He said such a dialogue should “originate from within and encompass all political and societal forces,” while placing “the suffering of citizens and their right to peace at the forefront of its objectives.”
According to Burhan, the group proposed working as “an independent national mechanism” to prepare for a comprehensive Sudanese dialogue aimed at achieving “broad national consensus that puts our country on the path to stability.”
He said the group had emphasized “its independence and openness to everyone” and requested guarantees from the state for holding the dialogue, facilitating the participation of the parties, and protecting their safety.
Burhan said he approved the requested guarantees, affirming the state’s readiness to provide “the necessary logistical support and legal, political and security guarantees.”
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict between the army and the RSF since April 2023, a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 13 million others, according to UN and international estimates.
