Sudan’s RSF deputy commander vows to take remaining provinces

The paramilitary group seized control of Wad Medani, the capital of Al Gezira province

Sudanese army soldiers patrol in Gedaref in eastern Sudan, on December 18, 2023. AFP

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group RSF has said it aims to take all remaining provinces in the country, days after its seizure of Wad Medani, the capital of the Al Gezira province.

“You have nothing left … There is no army to fight. You are now defending the general command from inside the basement, and every day we are advancing and we will take it over from you,” said Deputy RSF commander Lt Gen Abdulrahim Dagalo, the brother of RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo.

Earlier, Lt Gen Abdulrahim Dagalo called on Sudanese army commander Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan to surrender to his forces, which he accused of conducting air raids on Zalingei, central Darfur.

The latest remarks comes a few days after fierce clashes broke out between the two sides in Wad Medani, Sudan's breadbasket.

The fighting forced about 300,000 people to flee their homes, with “many in panic and with no other option than fleeing on foot”, according to the UN.

They join the more than six million who have been displaced since the war broke out in April in Khartoum.

More than half a million people had sought shelter in Al Gezira province before the RSF began advancing on the villages lining the motorway between Khartoum and Wad Medani.

On Wednesday, the UN's World Food Programme said the spread of fighting southward had forced it to suspend food assistance in parts of Al Jazirah province in central Sudan, calling it a “major setback”.