Sudan General al-Burhan addresses UN General Assembly as his army launches a major offensive against RSF
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The war in Sudan continues to fuel the world's largest displacement crisis.
00:04One of the men behind that conflict, Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,
00:08spoke before the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday,
00:11calling for the RSF militia on the other side of the conflict to put down their weapons.
00:17Countless crimes have been committed, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and genocide.
00:23All of this had been committed by the rapid support forces, the RSF,
00:28which should be considered a terrorist group. This militia is continuing to perpetrate crimes
00:33and it is most unfortunate that it is receiving the support of some states in the region.
00:40And yet, Burhan's forces and those of RSF leader Mohamed Hamda Daglo have been accused of horrific
00:46abuse of civilians and have prevented the distribution of aid to those who desperately
00:51need it, triggering a devastating famine in parts of the country. Well, on Thursday,
00:55Burhan's army launched a major offensive in Khartoum and appears to be gaining an advantage
01:01over the RSF. As always, though, civilians are caught amidst the violence.
01:06Our regional correspondent tells us more.
01:10For the past couple of months, Khartoum had been relatively quiet. A few mortar shells
01:14fired every day, but no heavy fighting. So Khartoum residents were quite shocked to hear
01:19many explosions at around four in the morning this Thursday. The Sudanese military was using
01:24artillery and planes to bomb Khartoum. Later in the day, it started a ground offensive. It seems
01:31to be the biggest operation to retake control of the capital since the beginning of the war,
01:35and so far it seems successful. According to civilians living around the capital,
01:40the military has retaken control of three very important bridges linking the capital,
01:44Khartoum, to the neighboring cities of Bari and Omdurman. These bridges were under the control
01:49of the rapid support forces since the beginning of the war. Later in the day, according to military
01:54sources, the soldiers managed to reach the city center. It's the first since the beginning of the
01:59war in April 2023. So how do we explain this success? There are two main reasons, apparently.
02:06According to military sources, the Sudanese army has been working on this operation for months.
02:11And then they also recently received new ammunitions, new drones, new weapons, new
02:17artillery systems, new ammunitions. So it seems to be very effective in the battle for Khartoum.
02:24Later in the day, the rapid support forces published several videos on social networks
02:28claiming that it's still in full control of the capital, but it's not true according to
02:33several residents still living in Khartoum. So now the question is, will the military be able
02:39to push back the rapid support forces outside of Khartoum? It's too early to say, but the
02:44rapid support forces have been in control of Khartoum since the beginning of the war.