Sudan junta leader in Egypt on ‘first foreign trip since war began’

The commander of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), head of the Sovereignty Council, and de facto leader of Sudan, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, arrived in Egypt on Tuesday morning, in the junta leader’s first foreign trip since the outbreak of the war in mid-April. He travelled to Cairo after spending three days in Shendi and Atbara.

El Burhan is accompanied by acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, the director of General Intelligence Service (GIS), and the director of Sudan’s defence industries.

Following a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to discuss the situation in Sudan. El Burhan held a press conference in which he stressed the commitment of the SAF to seek to end the war and establish a real transitional period. “The SAF has no inclination to continue to rule.”

He accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of starting the war “to seize power”, and called on the international community “to look at the war objectively”.

‘Until victory’

In an address to the Red Sea forces at the Flamingo naval base in Port Sudan on Monday, El Burhan refuted rumours claiming he has only been able to leave the General Command in central Khartoum for the first time since the start of the war in mid-April, after an agreement with the RSF.

“The army will not enter into peace negotiations with the RSF, but will continue fighting “until victory,” he further told the marines in Port Sudan. “We will not settle with any party that has betrayed the Sudanese people”, indicating that “our efforts will focus on resolving the enemy.”

He also called RSF’s repeated claims that the militia is fighting the remnants of the Al Bashir regime “a lie”.

‘No authority has had legitimacy in Sudan since the October 2021 coup’ – Siddig Tawir

According to Siddig Tawir, a leader of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and former member of the Sovereignty Council, El Burhan’s visit to Egypt and other countries “comes within the framework of his efforts to establish himself as head of the de facto authority in Sudan,” noting that “there is no authority in the country that has had legitimacy since the October 2021 coup”.

Tawir told Radio Dabanga that El Burhan’s speech in Port Sudan on Monday contradicted what he said in his previous speeches since the outbreak of the war, in which he supported negotiations to end the war, and attributed this to “contradictions in El Burhan’s personality and his desire to remain in power”.

“The ongoing war cannot be resolved militarily,” Tawir stressed. “We need to stop the war, contain its effects, and ensure the return of the displaced people to their homes. And his should be the role of a broad civil front and not a party to the war.”

‘Disappointing’

Nour El Sadig, a leading member of the Communist Party of Sudan, called El Burhan’s statements in Port Sudan earlier this week, about not entering into a dialogue with the RSF, “disappointing” for all Sudanese. “We were all waiting for a speech that would contribute to stopping the war and ending the suffering of the Sudanese.”

El Waleed Madibbo, an expert in the field of governance, described El Burhan’s refusal to negotiate with the RSF as “tactical”.

El Burhan left the Military Command because “regional and international groups are pressing for a settlement that the two warring parties will not be able to breach,” Madibbo told Radio Dabanga.

“This upcoming agreement will be settled under the auspices of financially and militarily capable countries, and it is likely that international forces will be deployed to monitor the upcoming ceasefire and prevent violations like what happened many times before,” he said.

“The commanders of the two armies that jointly staged a coup d’état in end October 2020, will soon leave the rule of Sudan to a technocratic government that will save Sudan from the current situation.”

Shelling

As El Burhan held talks with Sisi, shelling continued in various areas of Khartoum state, including the industrial zone in Omdurman.

On Tuesday, continued bombing and shelling were reported from various parts of the Sudanese capital.