Sudan's military chief Burhan promises to 'crush' paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

Sudan's de facto head of government and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has vowed to defeat the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and avenge those it had killed, after it said on Thursday that it would agree to a truce.

A statement was issued by the Sovereign Council on Thursday, following a meeting with senior officers from the ‘mobile command’ a day earlier.

"We will avenge every martyr who sacrificed their life in the Battle of Dignity, and we will avenge those who were killed and mutilated in El-Fasher, El-Geneina, Al-Jazira, and other cities and areas desecrated by the terrorist militia," army chief Burhan said, referring to the RSF.

On 26 October, the RSF, which has been fighting a brutal war with Sudan's army for more than two years, claimed full control of El-Fasher, which they had besieged for nearly 18 months.

There were reports that RSF militiamen had executed thousands of civilians and committed other crimes in El-Fasher, such as looting and sexual assaults.

It was the last army stronghold in the western Darfur region.

Today, Sudan’s regular army controls much of the country’s north, east, and centre, including the capital Khartoum, while the south remains contested.

The RSF controls much of Darfur, a region about the size of Spain, effectively splitting the country and increasing fears of another partition in the impoverished east African nation.

Estimates say the war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced about 13 million others, and the UN has called it the world’s worst humanitarian and displacement crisis.

Burhan warned that the campaign led by what he described as "the countries of aggression and arrogance against Sudan" will be broken, and that the Sudanese people will emerge victorious.

Khartoum has accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF, a claim the UAE denies.

Burhan voiced support for "the great sacrifices being made by the armed forces and the joint forces in order to liberate the country from the filth of rebellion and to eradicate the Al-Dagalo terrorist militia," a reference to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

"The battle against the Rapid Support Forces is the battle of the Sudanese people," he said, stressing that, "everyone fighting in the name of this people will neither be defeated nor broken."

He renewed his determination to "defeat the rebel militia, secure Sudan’s borders, and move forward with strength, determination, and resolve to achieve victory soon and eliminate the militia."

The army chief’s remarks come amid intensified US-led efforts to establish a humanitarian truce in Sudan lasting three to nine months, aimed at creating to end the war.

RSF says ready for truce

The RSF announced on Thursday that they had agreed to a proposal for a humanitarian truce put forward by mediators.

"In response to the aspirations and interests of the Sudanese people, the Rapid Support Forces affirms its agreement to enter into the humanitarian truce proposed by the Quad countries," the RSF said in a statement, referring to the United States, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The military-aligned government did not immediately comment on the RSF's announcement.

Meanwhile, fighting and drone strikes between the warring sides continued in Darfur and the southern Kordofan region.

The United Nations' top rights body said in a statement on Thursday that it would "hold a special session on the human rights situation in and around El-Fasher, in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Sudan, on Friday, 14 November 2025".