KHARTOUM: One of Sudan’s warring generals, who leads the paramilitary force fighting the country’s regular army has said that he will not negotiate until fighting ends.
However, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, said his fighters were being “relentlessly” bombed since the truce had been extended. “We don’t want to destroy Sudan,” he said, blaming army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for the continuing violence.
According to BBC News, Gen Burhan has agreed to face-to-face talks in South Sudan. Thursday night’s 72-hour extension of an uneasy ceasefire followed intensive diplomatic efforts by the neighbouring countries, as well as the United States, United Kingdom and the United Nations.
Speaking to BBC News by phone, Hemedti said he was open to talks but set the condition that the truce should hold: “Cease hostilities. After that we can have negotiations.”
Hemedti said he had no personal issue with Gen Burhan, but regarded him as a traitor for bringing into power those loyal to former President Omar al-Bashir, who was thrown out by the RSF and the regular army together in 2019 after large scale street protests.
Bashir’s regime which remained in power for almost three decades was known for its Islamist ideology and imposition of a strict version of Islamic laws. “Unfortunately Burhan is being led by the radical Islamic front leaders,” said Hemedti.
In 2021, Gen Hemedti and Gen Burhan had overturned an agreement to share power with civilians, taking full control of the country in a coup. However, they fell out in 2023 over the proposed return to civilian rule, in particular about the timeframe of incorporating Hemedti’s 100,000-strong Rapid Support Force’s (RSF) inclusion into the regular army.
“I am looking forward to having the civilian government today – before tomorrow, a fully civilian government. This is my principle,” Hemedti told the BBC.
This is not the first time that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader has openly spoken of his commitment to democracy, although the analysts point out his forces had brutally put down civilian protests in the past.
Hemedti told the BBC that RSF fighters were not the enemies of the military soldiers, explaining they were battling to protect the country from “the relics of the government of the past 30 years”. “We won’t fight you. Please go back to your army divisions and we won’t fight you.”
Hemedti’s comments to the BBC come as millions of people remain trapped in the capital city of Khartoum, where there is shortage of food, fuel, and water. In some parts of the capital city, rival troops have dug trenches to battle each other street by street, as per AFP reports.
The United Nations says RSF troops are forcing people from their homes and extortion and looting is taking place. However, Hemedti told the BBC that his rivals were dressing up in the RSF uniforms in order to discredit his men. He categorically denied involvement in looting and taking over the hospitals, stating his troops were trying to help residents of a city reeling from fierce clashes that started around 14 days ago.
At least 512 people have been killed and 4,193 others wounded in the fighting so far, according to the health ministry figures, although the real death toll imight have been much higher. The United Nations has said that hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have fled their homes, often paying huge sums to leave and facing abuses en route.
Tens of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into the neighbouring countries, including Egypt, Chad and South Sudan. Thousands of foreigners who have been evacuated have also crossed into the neighbouring countries.
A Turkish evacuation plane was also shot at as it was landing at an airport outside Khartoum city. No-one was, however, injured while the RSF denied accusations by the army that it was involved in the same.
Violence is reported to have been particularly bad in El Geneina city in Darfur in western Sudan, where the RSF and militias linked to it are reported to have looted and torched markets, aid warehouses and banks.
