Sudan's Rival Military Leaders Give Competing Addresses to UN

Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan Abdelrahman Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan Abdelrahman Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
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Sudan's Rival Military Leaders Give Competing Addresses to UN

Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan Abdelrahman Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan Abdelrahman Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

The heads of Sudan's rival military factions gave competing addresses to the United Nations on Thursday, one from the podium at UN headquarters in New York and the other in a rare video recording from an undisclosed location.
Army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, speaking at the United Nations following a string of foreign trips, called on the international community to designate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organization and to counter its sponsors outside Sudan's borders, Reuters said.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said in a video message that his forces were fully prepared for a ceasefire and comprehensive political talks to end the conflict.
Both sides blamed the other for starting the war that erupted in mid-April in Khartoum and has spread to other parts of the country including the western region of Darfur, displacing more than 5 million people and threatening to destabilize the region.
Most of Hemedti's recent communications have been audio messages, and his whereabouts have been a source of speculation.
In the video released on Thursday shortly before Burhan spoke, Hemedti appeared in military uniform, seated behind a desk with a Sudanese national flag behind him as he read out his speech. His location was not clear.
"Today we renew our commitment to the peaceful process to put a halt to this war," Hemedti said. "The RSF are fully prepared for a ceasefire throughout Sudan to allow the passage of humanitarian aid ... and to start serious and comprehensive political talks."
FAILED CEASEFIRES
Previous assertions by the army and the RSF that they are seeking a solution to the conflict, as well as announcements of ceasefires by both sides, have failed to stop bloodshed and the deepening of a humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
"We are still extending our hands for peace, to stop this war and the suffering of our people," said Burhan, adding that the army remained committed to withdrawing from politics in a transition to civilian rule.
But he also called for the RSF to be labeled a terrorist group and said it was backed by regional and international backers, without naming any. "There is a need to firmly address their sponsors," he said.
Sudan's war broke out over plans to formally integrate the RSF into the army as part of a political transition, four years after the overthrow of former leader Omar al-Bashir during a popular uprising. The army and RSF staged a coup together in 2021 before coming to blows.
Witnesses say the army has used heavy artillery and air strikes that have caused casualties in residential districts of Khartoum and other cities, and that the RSF has inflicted widespread looting and sexual violence on residents as well as participating in ethnically targeted attacks in Darfur.
Saudi Arabia and the United States have tried to secure a lasting ceasefire in Sudan but the process stalled amid parallel international initiatives in Africa and the Middle East.



Suspected RSF Strike Hits a Prison, Killing at Least 19 in Sudan, Officials Say

 A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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Suspected RSF Strike Hits a Prison, Killing at Least 19 in Sudan, Officials Say

 A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)

A suspected drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces hit a prison in Sudan's southern region of Kordofan on Saturday and killed at least 19 prisoners, authorities said, the latest deadly attack in the country’s more than two-year civil war.

The attack on the main prison in Obeid, the capital city of North Kordofan, also wounded 45 other prisoners, according to a statement from the province’s police forces.

The statement accused the Rapid Support Forces of launching the attack, which came as the RSF escalated its drone strikes on the military-held areas across the country.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese military for more than two years.

Earlier this month, the RSF launched multi-day drone attack on Port Sudan, the Red Sea city serving as an interim seat for the Sudanese government. The strikes hit the city’s airports, maritime port and other facilities including fuel storages.

The RSF escalation came after the military struck the Nyala airport in South Darfur, where the RSF receives foreign military assistance, including drones. Local media say dozens of RSF officers were killed in last week's strike.

Sudan plunged into chaos on April 15, 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in the capital Khartoum and other parts of the country. Obeid is 363 kilometers (225 miles) south of Khartoum.

Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. The conflict also has pushed parts of the country into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western Darfur region, according to the UN and international rights groups.