The head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group vowed on Wednesday that Sudan would be unified through “peace or through war”, after his forces captured a key city.
“The liberation of El-Fasher is an opportunity for Sudanese unity, and we say: Sudanese unity through peace or through war,” Mohammad Hamdan Daglo said in a speech broadcast on his official Telegram channel, without specifying his location.
His declaration came three days after RSF forces captured the strategic western city, giving them control of the vast region of Darfur.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Daglo’s rival and leader of the regular army, acknowledged on Monday that his troops had withdrawn.
Daglo said that “we are sorry for the inhabitants of El-Fasher for the disaster that has befallen them” in the 18-month siege and final assault.
“But… the war was forced upon us,” he added.
The European Union had earlier accused the RSF of “brutality”, saying there was evidence of “civilians being targeted because of their ethnicity”.
“Investigators have arrived in El-Fasher, and we uphold the law and require accountability from anyone who has made a mistake,” Daglo said, insisting that his forces were “peaceful people”.
Videos of violence posted to social media, eyewitness testimony and satellite imagery have all stoked accusations of massacres in El-Fasher since RSF fighters took control.
More than 36,000 people have fled the fighting since Sunday, most of them heading for the city’s outskirts and for Tawila 70 kilometres (43 miles) to the west.
Over 650,000 displaced people were already sheltering in Tawila, according to the United Nations.
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© Agence France-Presse
