The Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said that the army is fighting the war “with honor and dignity, without interference from any external party.”
He stressed that it is “the battle of all Sudanese and, for us, it is an existential battle.”
His remarks came as signs of a political crisis began to emerge within the government following the dismissal of a minister belonging to an armed faction allied with the army.
In a video statement published on the official Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) Facebook page, al-Burhan said that the army is not fighting any particular Sudanese tribes or groups, but rather those he described as “rebels.”
He called on traditional community leaders in the Darfur region not to respond to what he described as the incentives offered by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), aimed at encouraging their next of kin to take part in the fighting.
Al-Burhan emphasized that the state and the army are waging what he called the “War of Dignity” without targeting any specific tribal or population groups, adding: “We are fighting rebels who have oppressed, violated, and committed crimes against everyone, and we are fighting them to rid the Sudanese people of this rebellion.”
Political Crisis
In a separate development, signs of a political dispute emerged between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Army Movement, the faction led by Khamis Abdullah Abakar, an armed group allied with the army, following the dismissal of Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments Bashir Haroun Abdel Karim, who belongs to the movement.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the movement said it was surprised by the dismissal decision, which was made without consulting it, describing the move as a clear violation and circumvention of the procedures agreed upon in the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement.
The movement reaffirmed its commitment to retaining the ministerial portfolio allocated to it under the agreement, noting that it would nominate a new candidate to assume the ministry’s responsibilities in the near future.
Last Thursday, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris issued a decision dismissing the minister and instructed the relevant authorities to take the necessary steps to implement it.
The movement stressed that it would not accept any violation or breach of the Juba Agreement and rejected any attempt to marginalize it or undermine the rights guaranteed to it by the accord.
Under the Juba Agreement, armed movements were granted five ministerial portfolios based on the 2019 Constitutional Document. Article 20 of the agreement also exempts representatives of the peace process signatories from general procedures related to those entitlements.
The movement renewed its insistence that the current stage the country is going through requires respect for signed agreements and full adherence to the Juba Agreement, particularly the protocols related to power-sharing, wealth-sharing, and security arrangements.
The Agreement stipulated the integration of armed movement forces into the Sudanese Armed Forces. However, this provision has not been implemented nearly six years after the agreement was signed.
Implementation has effectively been limited to the power-sharing protocol, through which movement leaders obtained senior positions in the Sovereignty Council and the Cabinet, while security arrangements have remained suspended.
Renewed Fighting
Fierce clashes resumed between the Sudanese army and the RSF in West Darfur State.
The state’s governor, Bahr al-Din Adam Karama, said in a Facebook post that the army and allied movements had repelled a major RSF attack on Saturday in the Bir Saliba area, located about 30 kilometers north of El Geneina, the state capital.
He added that the army inflicted heavy losses on the attacking force in both personnel and equipment and captured several of its members.
For his part, Darfur Regional Governor and leader of the Sudan Liberation Army Movement, Minni Arko Minnawi said the RSF had attempted to outflank forces stationed in the area from two directions but suffered significant losses.
The Joint Force of the Armed Struggle Movements also released video footage on social media showing its deployment in the Bir Saliba area, stating that it had thwarted a surprise attack by the RSF.
In recent weeks, the SAF and their allied Joint Force have carried out military operations in West Darfur and North Darfur, targeting border areas and other strategically important locations as part of efforts to strengthen their presence and open new fronts in the conflict.
No immediate comment was issued by the RSF, which still controls most of Darfur’s five states, except for limited areas where army and Joint Force troops are deployed in the northern and western parts of the region.
