Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
© UNHCR/Ying Hu
Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) - "We are continuing in this battle until victory, and I repeat once again that we will not negotiate with an enemy who attacks us and occupies our lands." This is how General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has closed himself for the moment to dialogue to put an end to the dramatic civil war which pits the SAF against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary militia led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.
Al-Burhan made the statement while visiting troops who seized the areas of Wadi Sidna and Omdurman, which are part of the metropolitan area of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital ravaged by fierce fighting between the two sides for over a year.
The head of the Sudanese Armed Forces has reiterated that he will not bow to international pressure to sit at the negotiating table in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "We will not go to a negotiating table where they (the mediators) want to drag us by our ears, and we will not go to negotiations while the enemy still occupies our homes and plunders our wealth. We will not go to negotiations before the enemy leaves, and they (the mediators) must force them to do so if they want us to negotiate with them." Despite the SAF's territorial conquests in the Khartoum region, RSF militiamen continue to advance in other regions of Sudan. In particular, the RSF recently conquered military bases in Sennar and Western Kordofan, and continues to put pressure on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, besieged by militiamen (see Fides, 5/5/2024), which continue to bombard it indiscriminately (see Fides, 18/6/2024), even reaching hospital structures. Yesterday, July 2, two other hospitals were hit by RSF artillery fire, according to Governor Minni Minawi. This is the ninth attack on hospitals in the city since May 10. The RSF's new territorial conquests caused the exodus of at least 55,000 people from Sinja, the capital of Sennar, thus increasing the humanitarian toll of the conflict. According to the UN, at least 10 million Sudanese have been displaced since the start of the war in April 2023, often trapped in areas disputed by the opposing parties, as in the case of El Fasher, or like the approximately 80 people who have taken refuge since last June in the Catholic mission of Dar Mariam, in the Khartoumian district of al-Shajara.
The area is the scene of violent clashes because it is about two kilometers from the base of the armored forces that the RSF is trying to conquer. The refugees are trapped and attempts to bring them to safety have so far been in vain, while water and food supplies are dwindling by the day. Expressing the suffering of the populations, the bishops of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Sudan (SCBC, which brings together the bishops of Sudan and South Sudan) declared at the end of their meeting in Juba at the end of June: "The fabric of Sudanese society has been torn apart, with people shocked, traumatized, and disbelieving about the level of violence and hatred." The statement also denounces the selfish interests that sparked the conflict: "This is not simply a war between two generals, as the military has inextricably embedded itself in the economic life of the country, and both SAF and RSF each have a network of wealthy elite Sudanese and international individuals and cartels who benefit from their control of various sectors of the economy (see Fides, 22/4/2023) and are linked to external sponsors (see Fides, 1/11/2023) who continue to provide them with increasingly sophisticated weapons, such as drones. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 3/7/2024)
