Sudan’s Burhan rejects any peace plan that leaves RSF intact
December 1, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan’s de-facto head of state, Sovereign Council Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, revealed on Monday that he told various foreign envoys that any peace proposal that leaves the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intact and armed is “totally unacceptable.”
Speaking at a memorial for Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) fighters in Port Sudan, al-Burhan said he had delivered the same message to envoys of various countries, including U.S. Senior Advisor for Africa Boulos, Norway’s envoy, Britain’s special representative, and the U.N. Secretary-General’s envoy.
“Our position is non-negotiable,” al-Burhan said. “The RSF must withdraw from every area it occupies, assemble in designated sites, hand over its weapons and allow displaced citizens to return home. Only then can talks on a political transition begin.”
He stressed that the RSF’s egregious violations, especially those committed in el-Fasher, North Darfur, have limited the government’s options for any compromise.
Since war erupted in April 2023, the paramilitary RSF has seized most of Darfur—except the North-Darfur enclaves of al-Tina and Konwi and pockets held by the SLA faction of Abdel-Wahid al-Nur—and large parts of Kordofan.
Rights groups accuse both sides of war crimes. Still, the bulk of documented atrocities, including genocide, ethnically targeted killings, mass rape, looting, destruction of infrastructure, and the forced displacement of millions, have been attributed to the RSF and allied Arab militias in Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, Sennar, Darfur region, and West, South, and North Kordofan.
Al-Burhan vowed that “criminals, murderers, and spiteful individuals who have stained their hands with Sudanese blood will face justice and do not deserve to live with us in Sudan,” and praised former rebel leaders—notably Minni Minnawi of the SLA—who have rallied their troops behind the army.
The chairman also called for “re-building the Sudanese state on new foundations,” including the revival of the 1956 independence flag that once flew over the Republican Palace.
The chairman also called for “reforming the Sudanese state from the beginning and building the country on correct, new foundations.” This included the reinstatement of the 1956 independence flag,the three-colour banner raised by our ancestors and fathers, which once flew over the Republican Palace.
Diplomats say the army-RSF deadlock has stalled humanitarian access to 25 million people in need. Envoys are now waiting for a formal response to a revised cease-fire plan tabled last week in Jeddah, but al-Burhan’s remarks signal that disarmament—rather than power-sharing—remains Khartoum’s first priority.