'No peace, no talks': Abdel Fattah Al Burhan urges all Sudanese to take up arms

Comments come as his forces intensify a sweeping recruitment campaign targeting volunteers across army-held regions

Sudan’s army chief, Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, urged all men to take up arms, declaring a general mobilisation and vowing to reject any truce aimed at halting the war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

His address on Friday to fighters and residents in the Sareeha area of Al Gezira state, south of the capital Khartoum, marked his fiercest appeal yet as the military reels from battlefield setbacks.

"All Sudanese must take part in concluding this battle," he said. "Every man capable of bearing arms must carry them."

His comments come as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), hurt by the loss of their stronghold in Darfur, intensify a sweeping recruitment campaign.

Analysts warn the drive reflects both the army’s growing desperation and its increasingly Islamist tone, and may not prevent further losses.

They highlighted a recruitment push driven by Islamist influence that preys on the poor, fuelled by hate speech and accusations of treason against any man who refuses to join the fight.

The fall of El Fasher in late October dealt a severe blow to the army and cemented the de facto partition of Sudan. The RSF now controls Darfur and parts of Kordofan, while the army holds Khartoum and the northern, central and eastern regions.

Sudan's military chief Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan, in Khartoum. AP

The mobilisation call comes as Gen Al Burhan faces mounting international pressure. Washington accuses the army of being responsible for the routine and intentional denial of humanitarian access, using food deprivation as a war tactic. US sanctions imposed in January froze any assets he holds in the US and barred US entities from dealing with him.

Despite that, he insisted on Friday that he would not accept a truce and that he would continue fighting until the RSF is defeated.

"No truce, no talks, no peace with them," he told his supporters.

"We are determined that this war will not end except with the end of these rebels. Our pledge is that we have no dialogue with the rebels, no peace with them, and we will not accept that they have any place among us."

He claimed that "it is a duty on the shoulders of all Sudanese to take retribution from these criminals".

His address came just hours after the UN’s human rights chief delivered a stark message to all sides in Sudan’s war, saying the world was documenting atrocities and that accountability was inevitable.

The council adopted by consensus a resolution establishing a fact-finding mission to investigate reported mass killings during the fall of El Fasher. The mission will collect evidence, identify perpetrators and probe alleged atrocities.

The war between the SAF and RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly 13 million people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.