KHARTOUM / ISTANBUL

Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said Thursday that displaced civilians walk thousands of kilometers to flee attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

“The citizens who were forcibly displaced from El-Fasher, Bara, and Al-Nahud did not go to Nyala or Al-Fula or to any area under militia control in Darfur's cities or West Kordofan,” Burhan said on US social media company X. 

The Sudanese leader stressed that the displaced civilians “chose to walk thousands of kilometers to areas under state and government forces' control, where they find security and the essentials of life.” 

Last month, the RSF seized control of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and committed massacres, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the country’s geographical partition. 

According to the International Organization of Migration, nearly 89,000 people were displaced from El-Fasher and its surroundings in North Darfur since last month, with total displacement exceeding 10 million within the country. 

Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF now holds all five in the Darfur region, except for a few northern areas of North Darfur still under army control. The Sudanese army continues to dominate most of the remaining 13 states across the south, north, east, and central regions, including the capital, Khartoum. 

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.