Al-Burhan's speech to Sudanese troops stationed near the border with Ethiopia
Al-Burhan speech to Sudanese troops stationed near the border with Ethiopia (Translated)
We did not chose to be in this position, but Sudan’s circumstances put us here. This is our land. This is Sudanese land.
For 25 years, we have been patient. We have been quiet. We endured these threats. But everything has a limit. Everything has a solution. We have been patient [despite these] threats, attempts to scare and dishonour us.
Yesterday, they killed women. They killed five or seven women. And we’re observing silently. For how long can we stay quiet? Everything has a solution, but the issue has gone beyond its limit.
This our land. This belong to us. And we will all die here. And when we’re done, others will come after us until nobody else can come and say “get out of here, this is not yours”.
It’s true that we’ve neglected this land for many years, but now we’re back. After this, we can only leave it if we all die. Relay what I’ve said to your brothers.
We have come here to protect Sudan and Sudanese women.
2. We did not expect any violence from our Ethiopian neighbours. But they started it. Yesterday they killed our women, and before that they killed our farmers and burned our land and took our land. And yesterday, they were saying that this land is not Sudanese and that Sudan entered their territory.
This is Sudanese land. We will stand here until we are done.
Sudanese blood and land is not cheap. We all have to stand together to protect our people, land and family. To protect the vulnerable and the women. How can anybody kill women?
There are crops, bread and cotton here, and Ethiopians are here in the hundreds of thousands.
But our Sudanese manners mean that we can never lift weapons in the faces of women and children. The person who acts like this deserve the same treatment.
We want everybody to hold on to their manners, to defend the truth, Sudan and families of Sudan. We don’t want anything more.
3. We have a legitimate right to protect our land, whether it is by force or by kindness. We did not transgress on anyone, we did not cross our borders. This is Sudanese land, and these are our people. Majdi (al-Burhan’s military colleague who was sat nearby) was here 25 years ago. He was a Lieutenant. How can those people come and say this land is theirs?
We are with you. We will stand together. We will not transgress on anyone. We will not take what belongs to anyone. But this land is ours and nobody can prevent us or tell us that we can’t defend it. We are standing our position to defend the nation, to defend Sudan.
We stand here until it becomes clear that this is ours, or we go and those who replace us come to protect and defend Sudan
4. We have many agreements with neighbouring countries. But there was no response to our requests.
We are going to close all the ports of Sudan. It is our duty to protect and defend Sudanese land, with our blood. The women died in defence of this country. They are martyrs. We are going to visit the locals and tell them that their women are like our soldiers here. There is no difference between them.
They killed five women here, the death toll rose to seven. And with them was a one-year-old child. And before that we had soldiers who died in this location. These are all things that we have to remember.
We can’t let it go. We will die over it like the aforementioned people died. And then those that come after us will find that we secured the country and made it peaceful for them in protection of the country.
The whole Sudanese population is standing with you, including those in the sovereign council and council of ministers.
5. We, and the whole of Sudan, do not accept the ugly reasons for which these people died. They were women. Women, in our customs and traditions, even in a war they don’t get touched.
Whether someone dies in Khartoum, or here, or anywhere else – it’s all the same. Everyone feels the pain. None of us accept this. We consider the people who died here the same as our soldiers. We are all one.
We are not going to go back. Just like our family died here, we will die here too.