General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces, pledged retribution for the people of Al-Fashir and vowed to defeat the militia and “turn the tide” by recovering every inch of territory “desecrated by traitors.”
In a brief statement Monday — his first comment following the fall of Al-Fashir — al-Burhan said the military leadership, including the security committee, determined that withdrawing from the city was necessary after it suffered destruction and systematic killing of civilians.
“We agreed that they should leave the city and go to a safe place to spare the remaining citizens and the rest of the city further destruction,” he said, describing the withdrawal as one of the stages of military operations forced upon the Sudanese people.
He asserted that the Sudanese people and armed forces will prevail, saying that the conflict will be decided in favor of the Sudanese people. Al-Burhan reiterated his determination to seek justice for the people of Al-Fashir and for crimes committed elsewhere in Sudan, and criticized the world’s silence in the face of violations and lack of accountability.
“We, as Sudanese, will hold these criminals to account; we will avenge our people who have been wronged by this treacherous hand — a hostile hand that does not belong to the Sudanese people,” he said.
He renewed his pledge to continue until the land is cleansed of what he called filth and to eliminate those mercenary killers.
