Sudan’s Al-Burhan Says ‘Door Open’ for Reconciliation as SAF Advances in Kordofan
The Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, renewed his call for national reconciliation, vowing victory over the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Meanwhile, the SAF made advances across several areas in the Kordofan region, which has become a frontline in the devastating war in Sudan.
Vowing Victory
Addressing people on the 70th anniversary of Sudan’s independence, Al-Burhan said that Sudan is fighting an “existential battle,” reassuring the Sudanese people of victory over the RSF, reported the Sudan News Agency (SUNA).
“We reassure our people across all parts of Sudan that victory is coming, and will be on the side of the Sudanese nation,” he said, assuring residents of Darfur and Kordofan regions that victory was near.
“We also affirm that the door to national reconciliation remains open,” Al-Burhan added, noting that the current battle had unified the Sudanese people across all the country’s regions.
SAF Advances in Kordofan
The Sudanese army’s forces made territorial gains across several areas in the North and South Kordofan states on Wednesday, reported the Sudan Tribune.
According to military sources, an army unit, backed by the Joint Force, moved south of Al-Obeid, seizing control of Al-Rayash, Kazgail, Al-Hammadi, and Al-Dibeibat after heavy fighting against the RSF.
The SAF used drones in the offensive, targeting RSF mobile units and destroying dozens of vehicles, the sources added.
This marks the first expanded operation in months as the SAF had scaled back land maneuvers in Kordofan in favor of heavy drone strikes, which inflicted heavy losses on the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu.
RSF Approaching Kadugli
The SAF’s military maneuvers in southern Al-Obeid aim to secure the national route to South Kordofan and break the tightening siege on Kadugli and Dilling, imposed by the RSF and the SPLM-N.
In the meantime, the RSF claimed it had taken control of a strategic area located between the cities of Kadugli and Dilling in the South Kordofan state, in what the paramilitary group called an “essential step toward achieving strategic goals in South Kordofan.”
Sudan Conflict
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the SAF and the RSF, killing thousands and displacing around 12 million people amid spreading famine and cholera outbreaks.
It has also driven the country into effective partition, with the SAF controlling the center, north and east, while the RSF holds the entire Darfur region and parts of Kordofan in the south, with each side declaring a government.
Mediation efforts to bring peace and end the war in Sudan have stalled as the SAF turns down any truce that keeps the RSF in the country. Meanwhile, the paramilitary forces try to capture more territories, consolidating their grip on the Darfur region in the west and making inroads to Kordofan in the south and the capital, Khartoum.
In the light of this, Sudan’s SAF-aligned government presented a comprehensive peace initiative to the UN Security Council, calling for a comprehensive ceasefire monitored by the UN, the African Union (AU) and the Arab League (AL).
It requires the withdrawal of the RSF from the areas they control, in line with the terms of the Jeddah Declaration, and the disarmament of the paramilitary group under international supervision and with guarantees against arms recycling.
