The head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Commander-in-Chief of the army, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, stressed the refusal to talk and dialogue with the Rapid Support Forces, even if it lasted for 100 years until the end of the militias, reiterating Sudan’s rejection of the UAE’s mediation and its refusal to expand the Jeddah platform.
The Geneva talks, which lasted for ten days, amid the absence of the Sudanese army, brought together a group of mediators at the initiative of the United States, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to the Switzerland and the African Union with the participation of the Rapid Support Forces.
Burhan considered the Geneva platform an attempt to bypass the commitments of the Jeddah platform and an attempt to improve the image of the Rapid Support, stressing that there is no chance for the return of the Rapid Support Forces. “Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti” will remain at the end of the day as he talks about peace while his forces commit massacres in El Geneina, Khartoum and elsewhere,” he said. “I tell him we will not surrender and we will not kill you, we will let the people hold you accountable.”
“The Geneva Group and its statement is a farce,” he said, stressing that the outcomes of the Jeddah forum are the basis for any negotiations related to the war in Sudan.
He said they could not sit in a place where the RSF, which he described as “rebel militias”, is praised, referring to previous statements by US envoy to Sudan Tom Perillo praising the RSF’s cooperation with them. He pointed to their initiation of the formation of an interim technocratic government and the need to form a parliament and popular advice.
The RSF has threatened to form a government in the capital, Khartoum, which it said controls most of its territory, which is inconsistent with the army’s narrative of advancing across a large swath of the capital.
Hemedti said that the absence of the armed forces delegation from the negotiating platform hindered all efforts made by the mediation, and that this will prolong the war and compound the suffering of the Sudanese, stressing that the position of the army, which he said was kidnapped by the former regime, should not be tolerated.
In a statement on his account on the website (X), the adviser to the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Basha Tabiq, waved the announcement of the “Rapid Support” government in Khartoum, which he said aims to protect civilians and undermine the legitimacy of Burhan, accusing the army leaders of cooperating with the National Congress Party – the former ruling party – and the Islamic Movement of refusing to negotiate and and “ignoring the deteriorating humanitarian conditions experienced by the Sudanese people.”
Since the outbreak of the Sudanese war in mid-April April last year, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces have accused each other of threatening civilian lives and destroying the country’s infrastructure. The army requires the forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti” to leave civilian facilities and citizens’ homes and return the looted property to their owners, as well as the rest of the decisions of the Jeddah Agreement, before engaging in any further talks.
Accusations against international parties and neighboring countries
During his speech to a press conference on Saturday, Burhan accused international and regional parties and a number of neighboring countries – which he did not name – of conspiring against Sudan, pointing out that many countries in the region stand by or support the other party. He renewed his accusations against the Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (TAQADUM), which he said was “one of the mouthpieces of the militias”. “We tell them the door of repentance is open.” In his response, Khaled Omar, a leader in the Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), deputy head of the Sudanese Congress Party, said that Burhan, with his recent statements, put a message in the mail of the Sudanese when he said, “We fight fifty or a hundred years until we are all finished,” stating that he seeks only one goal, which is the seat of power.
He warned of the repercussions of the post-Geneva era, noting that it is imprudent not to rule out the country’s slide into the fate of “partition” and that there are clear indications that the country is on this path.
He added: “The world is now dealing effectively with the so-called areas controlled by the armed forces and the areas controlled by the Rapid Support, as well as the areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (north) and the areas controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement, all of which operate independently according to their own management systems.”
He considered that the exclusion of the option of fragmentation of Sudan deceives the country’s own history – the secession of South Sudan – and the region’s similar experiences, accusing Burhan of copying the Libyan model in its latest version (2019-2020), pointing to “the Tripoli authority’s use of a regional backer that repelled the siege of Haftar.” “After that, in Geneva, Switzerland, there was an agreement that froze the situation as it is, which are two or more unstable states within the same geographical boundaries with different and competing authorities,” he said. “This also happened in Somalia, Yemen and Syria as a de facto division that condemned peoples to displacement and eternal loss with no prospect of ending their suffering,” he said.
He stressed that calling for the continuation of the war means condemning the Sudanese to continue their lives in exile, and to bury the dearest loved ones in foreign lands, pointing out that the only way to avoid this is the path of peace and silencing the guns urgently by sitting at the tables of dialogue and negotiation. He stressed the need to strengthen popular pressure to end the war by uniting ranks and redoubling the work, or “let the Sudanese prepare for the most horrible coming”.
Humanitarian Aid
In addition, the Sudanese Sovereign Council said that Burhan received a phone call from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who discussed facilitating the movement of humanitarian aid from all crossings into Sudan, especially the Adri crossing in the west of the country, to provide support and humanitarian aid to the displaced, refugees and those affected by the war.
The President of the Sovereign Council affirmed the commitment of the Government of Sudan to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian convoys, noting the government’s agreement to open the Adri crossing and allow the entry of humanitarian aid to those in need. He affirmed the readiness of the Government of the Sudan to cooperate with United Nations agencies working in the humanitarian field and other international organizations.
Despite the army’s non-participation in the Geneva talks, mediators confirmed that it had received commitments from all Sudanese parties to open two crossings for humanitarian access from the north and west, while efforts to open a third safe passage continue.
(Al-Quds Al-Arabi)
