Starvation, ‘ghost towns’ plague Sudan as al-Burhan demands RSF surrender

Army chief rejects compromise as funding cuts leave millions hungry, RSF sieges empty villages in Darfur and Kordofan.

The head of the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has insisted the war, now deep into its third year, will only end with the “surrender” of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s maximalist stance against the rival paramilitary forces comes as the war-torn nation faces a collapsing humanitarian response, with starvation and displacement under fire rife, and intensifying battles that are turning villages into “ghost towns”.

Speaking during an official visit to Ankara on Sunday, al-Burhan summarily dismissed the possibility of a political solution that does not involve the disarmament of the RSF.

“We are not talking about a military solution … we said the military solution does not necessarily have to end with fighting; it can end with surrender,” al-Burhan told members of the Sudanese community in Turkiye. “The war will end after … arms are laid down,” he added.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan’s brutal civil war, which the UN says has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.