Starvation, ‘ghost towns’ plague Sudan as al-Burhan demands RSF surrender

The caput of the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has insisted the war, present heavy into its 3rd year, volition lone extremity with the “surrender” of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s maximalist stance against the rival paramilitary forces comes arsenic the war-torn nation faces a collapsing humanitarian response, with starvation and displacement nether occurrence rife, and intensifying battles that are turning villages into “ghost towns”.

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Speaking during an authoritative sojourn to Ankara connected Sunday, al-Burhan summarily dismissed the anticipation of a governmental solution that does not impact the disarmament of the RSF.

“We are not talking astir a subject solution … we said the subject solution does not needfully person to extremity with fighting; it tin extremity with surrender,” al-Burhan told members of the Sudanese assemblage successful Turkiye. “The warfare volition extremity aft … arms are laid down,” helium added.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called connected Friday for an contiguous ceasefire successful Sudan’s brutal civilian war, which the UN says has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

‘Stomachs are empty’

Al-Burhan’s comments travel arsenic the civilian colonisation faces a catastrophic and brutal world connected the ground. In the metropolis of Kosti, southbound of Khartoum, thousands of families are sleeping rough, surviving connected small much than breadstuff and boiled lentils.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Val, reporting from White Nile state, described a grim concern wherever astir 12 cardinal radical crossed Sudan are “living successful limbo”.

“Some accidental they consciousness harmless present successful Kosti, but their stomachs are empty,” Vall reported.

Ahmed Adam, from the Sudanese Red Crescent, told Val that the influx of displaced radical has overwhelmed section capacities, creating captious gaps successful indispensable supplies.”We person a existent shortage of nutrient items, medicine, particularly medicine for children,” Adam said. “We request assistance from foundation organisations,” helium added.

The situation is exacerbated by a illness successful planetary funding. The United Nations has much than halved its entreaty for 2026 to $23bn pursuing large reductions successful enactment from cardinal donors, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that rations successful Sudan, wherever 21 cardinal radical look starvation, volition beryllium chopped by up to 70 percent.

Lamia Abdulla, the humanitarian assistance commissioner for White Nile state, warned that the interaction is already being felt.”The WFP gives nutrient for the displaced, but the biggest portion of their assistance goes to refugees, truthful the assistance cuts volition airs a existent situation for us,” Abdulla told Al Jazeera.

‘Ghost towns’ and hit-and-run warfare

While hunger spreads, caller subject escalations are emptying immense swaths of the country. Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent, Hassan Razzaq, reported that the humanitarian exodus is simply a nonstop effect of expanding subject operations, peculiarly successful North Darfur and North Kordofan.

“There are towns present wholly bare of their inhabitants, which tin beryllium described arsenic shade towns owed to the continuation of battles,” Razzaq said.

In North Kordofan, the RSF is attempting to beforehand connected the strategical metropolis of el-Obeid. SAF has been expanding its antiaircraft perimeter astir the city, starring to volatile battles successful the surrounding countryside.

Razzaq highlighted the instability successful areas specified arsenic al-Dankouj, a municipality 40 kilometres (25 miles) from el-Obeid.

Control of the municipality has fluctuated, seized archetypal by the RSF and past retaken by SAF, illustrating the “hit-and-run” quality of the struggle successful the region.

Siege warfare and drones

The concern is arsenic dire successful South Kordofan, wherever Razzaq reported that the RSF has maintained an “airtight siege” connected the cities of Kadugli and Dilling for much than a twelvemonth and a half.

“This continuous siege … has placed the residents successful a deplorable state,” Razzaq said, noting that determination is “no flight from displacement” arsenic surviving conditions collapse.

The geography of South Kordofan has analyzable the fighting. Razzaq explained that owed to the rugged, mountainous terrain surrounding Kadugli and Dilling, the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), are resorting to circumstantial tactics to breach defences.”The RSF is attempting to penetrate these cities utilizing drones and long-range dense artillery,” helium reported.