Burhan

Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has reiterated that the army will be brought under a new civilian-led government as talks on military reforms began on Sunday as part of a prolonged transition to civilian rule. “During our history, the armed forces have supported dictatorial governments, and we want to put an end to that,” al-Burhan, a career soldier during former President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule, said in a speech to soldiers on Sunday. Al-Burhan seized power in the 2021 coup that derailed a short-lived The military and political parties signed Reform of the security forces is a key point of tension in discussions on the political process launched in December, envisaging generals’ exit from politics once a civilian government is installed. “The process of security and military reform is a long and complicated process and one that cannot be bypassed,” al-Burhan said. The proposed reforms include the integration into the regular army of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by al-Burhan’s deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemeti. A long history of military takeovers Sudan’s army has a long history of staging military takeovers and has amassed substantial economic holdings. It wants to see the RSF, which by some estimates has up to 100,000 fighters, integrated under its control. Created in 2013, RSF emerged from the Popular Defence Forces – a government-backed militia known as the Janjaweed – that longtime auto...

Deadly fighting in Sudan has shown no signs of stopping amid a power struggle that has left The northeast African country has been attempting to transition to civilian rule following a 2019 military coup that ousted President Omar al-Bashir, who was in power for nearly 30 years. However, disagreement between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over the framework of a December 2022 The two generals at the center of the conflict—Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese army and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the RSF—are actually former allies who worked together to topple al-Bashir. Now, their rivalry has turned deadly and is on the verge of sparking a humanitarian crisis that The World Health Organization Who Is Abdel Fattah al-Burhan? Abdel Fattah al-Burhan sits during a meeting in the Sudan capital of Khartoum in February. Getty Images Al-Burhan, 62, has been the de facto ruler of Sudan following another coup launched against Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in October 2021. According to The New York Times, al-Burhan was oversee the country’s transition to democratic rule following an initial power-sharing agreement between civilians in the military in August 2019. At the time, al-Burhan Al-Burhan previously served as a regional army commander during a war in the Darfur region, from 2003 until 2008, that killed 300,000 people and displaced millions of others. According to Reuters, he In an interview with CNN, al-Burhan Who Is Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo? Moham...

NEW FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Click + to receive email alerts for new stories written by Robbie Gramer Robbie Gramer A collage illustration shows rival Sudanese generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo atop a Sudanese flag with U.S. President Joe Biden and the seal of the U.S. State Department for a story about the breakdown of diplomacy and democracy efforts in Sudan. In late October 2021, a top U.S. envoy met with Sudanese military commanders and Sudan’s top civilian leader to shore up the country’s precarious transition toward democracy. The generals assured Jeffrey Feltman, then the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa region, that they were committed to the transition and would not seize power. Feltman departed the Sudanese capital of Khartoum for Washington early on the morning of Oct. 25. En route, he received news from Sudan: Hours after he left, those military leaders had In late October 2021, a top U.S. envoy met with Sudanese military commanders and Sudan’s top civilian leader to shore up the country’s precarious transition toward democracy. The generals assured Jeffrey Feltman, then the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa region, that they were committed to the transition and would not seize power. Feltman departed the Sudanese capital of Khartoum for Washington early on the morning of Oct. 25. En route, he received news from Sudan: Hours after he left, those military leaders had For the next 18 months, Washington adopted a series of...

CAIRO, May 3 (Reuters) - Military rivals locked in a conflict that erupted in Sudan on April 15 both courted foreign backing in the years leading up to the fighting. That support could now influence the course of the power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah The conflict has brought open warfare to Sudan's capital Khartoum and sparked new unrest in the western region of Darfur, displacing hundreds of thousands of people within Sudan and sending 100,000 fleeing across its borders. The influence of outside players WHO SUPPORTS BURHAN? Burhan's most important backer is Egypt, which shares a border with Sudan that more than 40,000 people have crossed since the fighting began. In both countries, the military has assumed a dominant role in the decades since independence and has intervened following popular uprisings - in Egypt when former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi led the ousting of democratically elected President Mohamed Mursi a decade ago, and in Sudan when Burhan led a military takeover in 2021. Diplomats and analysts say Egypt feels comfortable dealing with Burhan and sees him as the most likely guarantor of its interests, including in negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam being constructed on the Blue Nile upstream of Sudan and Egypt. In recent months, as much of the international community backed a transition plan involving the main civilian coalition to emerge from Sudan's 2019 uprising, Cairo created a parallel track of negotiations involving ...

Deadly fighting in Sudan has shown no signs of stopping amid a power struggle that has left The northeast African country has been attempting to transition to civilian rule following a 2019 military coup that ousted President Omar al-Bashir, who was in power for nearly 30 years. However, disagreement between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over the framework of a December 2022 The two generals at the center of the conflict—Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese army and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the RSF—are actually former allies who worked together to topple al-Bashir. Now, their rivalry has turned deadly and is on the verge of sparking a humanitarian crisis that The World Health Organization Who Is Abdel Fattah al-Burhan? Abdel Fattah al-Burhan sits during a meeting in the Sudan capital of Khartoum in February. Getty Images Al-Burhan, 62, has been the de facto ruler of Sudan following another coup launched against Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in October 2021. According to The New York Times, al-Burhan was oversee the country’s transition to democratic rule following an initial power-sharing agreement between civilians in the military in August 2019. At the time, al-Burhan Al-Burhan previously served as a regional army commander during a war in the Darfur region, from 2003 until 2008, that killed 300,000 people and displaced millions of others. According to Reuters, he In an interview with CNN, al-Burhan Who Is Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo? Moham...

NEW FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Click + to receive email alerts for new stories written by Robbie Gramer Robbie Gramer A collage illustration shows rival Sudanese generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo atop a Sudanese flag with U.S. President Joe Biden and the seal of the U.S. State Department for a story about the breakdown of diplomacy and democracy efforts in Sudan. In late October 2021, a top U.S. envoy met with Sudanese military commanders and Sudan’s top civilian leader to shore up the country’s precarious transition toward democracy. The generals assured Jeffrey Feltman, then the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa region, that they were committed to the transition and would not seize power. Feltman departed the Sudanese capital of Khartoum for Washington early on the morning of Oct. 25. En route, he received news from Sudan: Hours after he left, those military leaders had In late October 2021, a top U.S. envoy met with Sudanese military commanders and Sudan’s top civilian leader to shore up the country’s precarious transition toward democracy. The generals assured Jeffrey Feltman, then the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa region, that they were committed to the transition and would not seize power. Feltman departed the Sudanese capital of Khartoum for Washington early on the morning of Oct. 25. En route, he received news from Sudan: Hours after he left, those military leaders had For the next 18 months, Washington adopted a series of...

Sudan’s coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has said the army will withdraw from ongoing political talks and allow political and revolutionary groups to form a civilian transitional government. The general’s statements on Monday follow after a deadly week for Sudan’s pro-democracy movement as large-scale protests demanding Protest groups remain sceptical that the military will truly step aside, with protesters continuing to take to the streets in Khartoum after al-Burhan’s announcement, calling for the military’s immediate departure from power. A civilian-led transitional government that followed the overthrow of longtime President Omar al-Bashir in 2019 was itself removed by a military coup in October. Nine people have been killed and at least 629 injured by a recent security forces crackdown on the demonstrations, according to the Sudan’s Doctors Committee, which has tracked protest casualties. “The armed forces will not stand in the way” of democratic transition, al-Burhan said in a televised address, affirming the military’s commitment to working towards “elections in which the Sudanese people choose who will govern them”. The ruling sovereign council, led by al-Burhan and consisting of military and civilian members, will be dissolved after the formation of the new government, he said. However, pro-democracy groups fear that could potentially take a long time, allowing the military to remain in power. Al-Burhan said that a new Supreme Council of the Armed Forces...

CAIRO, May 3 (Reuters) - Military rivals locked in a conflict that erupted in Sudan on April 15 both courted foreign backing in the years leading up to the fighting. That support could now influence the course of the power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah The conflict has brought open warfare to Sudan's capital Khartoum and sparked new unrest in the western region of Darfur, displacing hundreds of thousands of people within Sudan and sending 100,000 fleeing across its borders. The influence of outside players WHO SUPPORTS BURHAN? Burhan's most important backer is Egypt, which shares a border with Sudan that more than 40,000 people have crossed since the fighting began. In both countries, the military has assumed a dominant role in the decades since independence and has intervened following popular uprisings - in Egypt when former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi led the ousting of democratically elected President Mohamed Mursi a decade ago, and in Sudan when Burhan led a military takeover in 2021. Diplomats and analysts say Egypt feels comfortable dealing with Burhan and sees him as the most likely guarantor of its interests, including in negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam being constructed on the Blue Nile upstream of Sudan and Egypt. In recent months, as much of the international community backed a transition plan involving the main civilian coalition to emerge from Sudan's 2019 uprising, Cairo created a parallel track of negotiations involving ...