Sudanese army chief vows to defeat 'rebel militia', rejects US sanctions

KHARTOUM - Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan emphasized Thursday the SAF's ability to defeat the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), despite external pressures.

Al-Burhan, also chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council, made the remarks while addressing a crowd of citizens and soldiers in Wad Madani, the capital city of Gezira State in central Sudan, according to a statement by the sovereign council.

On Jan 11, the SAF recaptured Wad Madani from the RSF, which had controlled the city for more than a year.

"The armed forces will defeat the rebel militia," he said, stressing his country would not be subjugated to external pressures, mainly referring to the new sanctions imposed on him by the United States.

On Thursday, Washington imposed sanctions on Al-Burhan over his army's "lethal attacks" against civilians, days after slapping sanctions on RSF's commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, whose group the United States accused of committing "genocide" in Sudan's Darfur region.

Sudan has been gripped by a devastating conflict between the SAF and the RSF since mid-April 2023, which claimed at least 29,683 lives and displaced about 15 million people, according to the latest estimates by international organizations.