El-Fashir… the battle of honour that is not yet over!

Muhannad Awad Mahmoud
In a time when facts are muddled and concepts are distorted, El-Fashir remains a speaking witness that heroism is not measured by the distances we travel but by the stands we take; El-Fashir did not fall as the slanderers claim. Our forces withdrew from it in a calculated tactical manoeuvre — not a defeat, not a rout — a withdrawal that belongs in the military roll of honour, taken only after all means were exhausted and after soldiers, officers and mobilised volunteers fought to their last breath against more than two hundred and sixty-seven consecutive assaults, in which thousands of Janjaweed and their mercenaries perished. They did not withdraw out of weakness; they withdrew to preserve what remained of civilian lives, having written an unforgettable saga of steadfastness… after thousands of mercenaries and hired guns gathered to attack with the latest weapons, armoured vehicles, drones and artillery.
The army of El-Fashir, the joint forces and the citizens faced conditions harsher than the mountains could bear: hunger to the point that some ate leaves and wild shrubs, thirst in a land exhausted by siege, and shells that never ceased day and night. Yet they endured with a rare dignity; had they wished to give in, they would have withdrawn a year and a half ago, but they chose to protect El-Fashir until the last moment.
Praise be to every soldier and officer who took up arms in defence of the city and its people; praise be to every mobilised fighter who fought on the front lines without fatigue or retreat; and praise be to the people of El-Fashir who patiently stood by their army, exemplars of faith and honour. Paradise and eternal bliss to the martyrs, both civilian and military.
We are firmly convinced that the Armed Forces possess the plans and capabilities to return every inch of our homeland to its warm embrace; our army withdraws only to return stronger, and repositions itself only as preparation for a calculated, organised offensive. The Sudanese army has never been defeated in will; events have shown that its steadfastness is a rock on which the illusions of militias and their mercenaries are shattered. The joint forces and the volunteers proved that the homeland is not for sale and not negotiable, and that the blood spilt in El-Fashir is a pledge of the liberation to come.
As for those who seized the land after the withdrawal, their actions reveal their true face: in a few hours, El-Fashir became a theatre of crimes and violations that neither religion nor law can justify. The terrorist militia that ravaged the city perpetrated killing, looting and torture against unarmed civilians, in blatant breach of the Rome Statute and international laws that oblige an occupying power to protect and secure the population. What happened in El-Fashir was the exact opposite: instead of securing people, their homes were looted, their women raped, their elders detained, and civilian infrastructure shelled. These crimes are not unprecedented; the same scenes were repeated in Geneina, Al-Jazirah and Khartoum before — which confirms that what is happening is not isolated behaviour but a deliberate, organised policy.
What occurred in El-Fashir alone suffices to classify the Rapid Support Forces as a terrorist militia — not through careless labelling, but because the facts, field testimonies and filmed scenes confirm they have transgressed every limit of humanity. The whole world has seen the atrocities committed; there are no longer excuses for silence nor justifications for turning a blind eye. If those who commit these crimes are not classified as terrorists, what then remains of the meaning of international justice? The world is a witness to what happened in El-Fashir, and if the international community remains silent, it becomes complicit through that silence.
No negotiation with terrorism and no handshake with those whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents; no peace built on the corpses of civilians and no reconciliation that covers massacres. Whoever seeks peace should pressure the militia to lay down its arms and surrender its criminals, not demand that the army give up its sovereignty and honour. Our valiant army, the joint forces and the mobilised volunteers all speak the same clear language: the language of determination and duty, the language of disciplined military force — they do not know treason and will not bargain away dignity.
Let the disgraced and the paid media mouthpieces who rushed to declare “the fall of El-Fashir” before the army withdrew know that they are no less treacherous than those who took up arms against the homeland; these people represent the enemy’s media battalion and should be brought before immediate and fair trials on charges of spreading rumours and sowing demoralisation among the people. A treacherous word is no less dangerous than a stray bullet, and a manufactured consciousness is deadlier than a bomb.
Today we do not call for a pointless war; rather, we affirm that our struggle is one of dignity, justice and survival. We trust that the army holds sound plans to reorganise the ranks, recover the land and secure civilians; we believe that El-Fashir will return, and that Darfur in all its states will be reunited with the homeland soon, because truth is never defeated when men who pledged themselves to God stand behind it.
El-Fashir did not die; it bleeds to give birth to a new dawn. Darfur will not be violated; it will rise from the rubble, crowned by the resolve of its sons. Anyone who thought Sudan kneels has forgotten that in this soil there is an army that does not know defeat, and a people who, when hungry, fight; when humiliated, endure; and when endurance perseveres, triumphs.
El-Fashir will return, Darfur will return, and the flag of Sudan will once again fly over its walls, because truth endures as long as there are hearts in this land that beat with faith and blood that flows for the homeland.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=8364