Sudan24 August, 20263 min read
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Vows To Defeat RSF, Dismisses No-Fly Zone Talk
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Abdel Fattah al-Burhan vows to defeat the RSF and restore nationwide security. He dismisses no-fly zone rumors and sanctions talk amid the conflict.
6 outlets told this the same way.
Al-Burhan vows defeat
Sudanese army chief and Sovereignty Council Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan pledged to defeat the Rapid Support Forces and restore security nationwide during a graduation ceremony for military cadets at Khartoum's Police Sciences and Law College. Al-Burhan said, "We assure the Sudanese people that the armed forces, backed by other regular forces, are moving toward restoring security and stability across the country," and he added that the paramilitary group would be "be defeated, and citizens will return to their areas and villages to resume their normal lives."
The remarks came as the war between the army and the RSF has continued since April 2023, with the conflict described as having killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million others, according to UN and international estimates cited in the report. In the same address, al-Burhan dismissed talk of a no-fly zone over Sudan and said, "Ongoing talk of possible sanctions against Sudan will not affect us or weaken our resolve," while calling the country's destiny "in God's hands."
U.S. pushes wider embargo
In a separate UN Security Council session on Sudan, Masaad Polis, the chief Arab and African affairs adviser to the U.S. president, presented a draft resolution to expand the UN weapons embargo beyond Darfur to cover the entire Sudan. Polis said the continued arrival of drones, military vehicles, and weapons from abroad prolonged the war and widened harm inflicted on civilians, warning that expanding the current arms embargo on Darfur would either make it effective across all of Sudan or impose a new, comprehensive embargo. The draft would clarify that the arms embargo includes drones and their components and related technologies, increase the number of members of the expert panel tasked with monitoring the sanctions, and expand cooperation with other UN sanctions bodies and committees.
The proposal faces Security Council approval hurdles, with the report citing explicit Russian opposition and expected Chinese reservations about expanding the geographic scope of sanctions beyond Darfur. Polis warned that the further flow of weapons would require anti-military support and push Sudan into a “death spiral” that civilians pay for, while also arguing that more than 12 countries provide some form of military support to the two sides.
UN warns of disaster
Alongside al-Burhan’s vow to continue operations until the RSF is defeated, a UN official told the Security Council that two-thirds of Sudan’s population are in dire need of life-saving support. Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said in her briefing that about 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to the war, including 8.7 million internally displaced across various states. DiCarlo also warned of the increasing use of drones and armed clashes, noting that clashes near the Sudanese-Ethiopian border in Blue Nile state are of great concern, and that the type of weapons used reflects ongoing external support for both sides.
Tom Gillespie, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that Sudanese people need food, water, and medicine, while weapons, drones, and mercenaries continue to flood the country. Sudan’s representative to the United Nations, Al-Harith Idris, defended Khartoum’s policies and said the government rejected extending the arms embargo to cover the entire country, while announcing Khartoum’s rejection and citing displaced and refugee returns figures expected to rise by the end of 2026.