The head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, said on Thursday that “victory is coming” and will be “on the side of the Sudanese people.”
Al-Burhan’s address came as fierce fighting continues between the army and allied forces on one side and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies on the other, particularly in South Kordofan state.
In a recorded message delivered from outside the Republican Palace in the capital, Khartoum, al-Burhan congratulated the Sudanese on the 70th anniversary of independence, marked annually on January 1.
“This is an existential battle of dignity that we are all fighting,” he stated, adding: “We reassure our citizens everywhere, in Darfur and Kordofan, that victory is coming, and that Sudanese forces are coming to you. We will surely gather here again as Sudanese to celebrate the expulsion of the rebellion, traitors and defeatists from our country.”
Al-Burhan continued that those who “betrayed their country and sold it” would not prevail, dismissing what he described as “mirages of states that speak of illusions that will never be realized on this land.” He stressed that the Sudanese people are determined to win.
He also stressed that the door remains open to national reconciliation. “We welcome everyone who wishes to join the voice of the nation and of truth,” he said, pledging to work toward building “a state of citizenship, peace and justice.”
In a contrasting message, the prime minister of the rival, RSF-aligned parallel administration, Mohamed Hassan al-Taaishi, argued that political independence was a great national achievement but remained incomplete because it failed to become an inclusive national project addressing imbalances in power and wealth.
Speaking on the eve of Independence Day, Al-Taaishi said the so-called “Government of Peace” had presented a declared national project for a comprehensive re-foundation of the Sudanese state on new principles.
He added that the war would not end through partial solutions or narrow security approaches, calling instead for a decentralized system of governance that redistributes power and wealth fairly through a new social contract and a secular, democratic civilian constitution.
