PARIS (AFP) - Sudan’s army chief has announced the withdrawal of his soldiers from their last stronghold in Darfur, as the United Nations issued a stark warning over reports of “atrocities” by the paramilitary group now in control of the city of el-Fasher.
The announcement by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan came late on Monday, a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the main Sudanese army base in el-Fasher and declared victory there.
The army’s withdrawal from el-Fasher leaves more than a quarter-million people – half of them children – under the control of the RSF. Aid groups reported chaotic scenes there, including killings, arrests and attacks on hospitals.
In his statement, al-Burhan said that his soldiers decided to withdraw from the city entirely in the hopes of sparing the civilian population from further violence.
The army retreated because of “the systemic destruction, and the systemic killing of civilians” by the RSF, he said, adding that the army hoped to “spare the citizens and the rest of the city from destruction”.
“We are determined to avenge what happened to our people in el-Fasher,” he said. “We, as the Sudanese people, will hold these criminals accountable.”
The fall of el-Fasher to the RSF could herald another split of Sudan, more than a decade after South Sudan’s creation. The latest war started in April 2023, when tension between the military and RSF exploded into fighting in the capital, Khartoum. The ensuing conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the developments represent a “terrible escalation in the conflict” and that “the level of suffering that we are witnessing in Sudan is unbearable”.
The UN Human Rights Office said that RSF fighters reportedly carried out atrocities in el-Fasher, including “summary executions” of civilians trying to flee their attacks, “with indications of ethnic motivations for killings”.