The commander of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, stated that his forces are prepared to fight for decades in their confrontation with the army, warning that his fighters remain stationed on the outskirts of the capital, Khartoum.
In a speech delivered to a group of soldiers at an undisclosed location on Wednesday evening, Dagalo said, “We do not want this war to continue, but if they (the army) continue it for 40 years, it will continue until they are uprooted.”
Dagalo added that “elements of the Rapid Support Forces have not left the capital, which the army recaptured in March 2025,” indicating that these elements “are still stationed on the outskirts of Omdurman, on the opposite bank of the Nile River from central Khartoum.”
Khartoum, which had experienced relative calm since the army regained control, has been subjected to several attacks in the past two weeks. A drone strike last Saturday killed five civilians in a car in southern Omdurman, while another attack last week damaged a hospital.
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In recent months, the capital has seen a gradual return to normalcy with the return of more than 1.8 million displaced people, according to UN figures, and the resumption of domestic flights from the airport, despite continued shortages of electricity and basic services in large parts of the city.
Drone attacks by both sides have escalated across Sudan in recent months, killing nearly 700 civilians since January, according to the UN.
The war, now in its fourth year, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, creating what the UN has described as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
Efforts to end the conflict have stalled, including those of the Quartet comprising the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt, with the warring parties failing to agree on a humanitarian ceasefire.
Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has repeatedly declared that his forces will fight until victory, asserting that the war will only end when the Rapid Support Forces surrender their weapons. Outside the capital, fierce battles are raging on several other fronts, including South Kordofan and Blue Nile State near the Ethiopian border.
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