Sudan’s military has ruled out talks with the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), saying it will only accept its surrender as both sides continue to fight in central Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

Throughout the night and day of Thursday, shooting was almost continuously heard throughout Khartoum. Residents noticed the most intense fighting around the military headquarters in the center of Khartoum and the nearby airport. Military aircraft attacked RSF positions at the airport and in the nearby town of Omdurman. The military said its warplanes also hit a convoy of RSF vehicles heading for the capital on Thursday, although this claim could not be confirmed by independent sources.

If the truce collapses completely, it would be the second failure of the international community to push Sudan’s two top generals – Army Chief General Abdel Fattah Burhan and SRB Commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemeti” – to end their fight for control of the country.

A similar attempt at the initiative of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken with two generals failed almost immediately. On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also addressed the two generals, calling for a return to dialogue.

The leaders of Egypt, which is an ally of the Sudanese military, and the United Arab Emirates, which is linked to the RSF, spoke on Thursday about how to turn the ceasefire into negotiations.

Current rival generals Burhan and Dagallo teamed up to overthrow Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 after massive protests against his three decades of rule. Since then, they have been allies, and their relationship has been punctuated by periods of tension. In October 2021, the two men led a military coup against the civilian government established after the fall of Bashir, derailing an internationally supported transition.

Egyptian military

Meanwhile, the Sudanese army announced that 177 Egyptian soldiers who had fallen into the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan had been airlifted to Egypt.

Earlier, the Egyptian army announced that it was “coordinating its efforts with the various competent authorities of Sudan for the safe return of all military personnel to the country.”

Egyptian soldiers have left Dongola in northern Sudan for their homeland, the general headquarters in Khartoum said.

Egypt’s armed forces were at an air base in northern Sudan for “joint training”, according to the general staff in Cairo, as the African country descended into chaos on Saturday.

According to Reuters, AP