KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL 

Sudan’s army chief and chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council said Monday that the military decided to withdraw from El-Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur region, to prevent further “systematic destruction and killing” of civilians by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In an address aired on state television, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said military and security leaders in El-Fasher assessed the situation and determined that leaving the city was necessary.

“Everyone is following what happened in El-Fasher,” said Burhan.

“The leadership there, including the security committee, concluded that they must leave the city because of the systematic destruction and killing of civilians,” he added.

Burhan added that the command in El-Fasher proposed the withdrawal, and the military leadership approved the decision “to relocate to a safe area and spare the remaining citizens and the city from further devastation.”

“This is one of the phases of military operations imposed on us as Sudanese people,” he said. “We always repeat that the Sudanese people will prevail, and the Sudanese Armed Forces will triumph.”

The RSF did not immediately comment on Burhan’s remarks.

Fighting raged on between the army and the RSF on Sunday in El-Fasher, which serves as the humanitarian operations center for the five Darfur states.

El-Fasher has witnessed fierce fighting for weeks between the army and the RSF following a multi-front assault by the paramilitary group, which has surrounded the city from five directions in an attempt to seize control of it due to its strategic importance.

The RSF has been besieging El-Fasher since May 10, 2024.

Fighting between the army and the RSF has been taking place since April 2023, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.