Sudan’s military chief urges US to push for end to civil war
Sudan’s military chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, called on US President Donald Trump to put an end to Sudan’s civil war, according to The New Arab plus agencies.
Al-Burhan, who is also Sudan’s de facto leader, wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on November 25th that “the Sudanese people now look to Washington to take the next step: to build on the US President’s honesty and work with us… to end this war.”
The war in Sudan has raged on since April 2023 between the national military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Al-Burhan continued, affirming that “the consensus among Sudanese is that Mr Trump is a leader who speaks directly and acts decisively” and that the choice was between supporting “a sovereign state trying to protect its citizens and a genocidal militia bent on destroying communities.”
The article, which lauds Trump’s “honesty” and integrity, marks a sharp shift in Al-Burhan’s attitude toward the US administration. Just two days before his WSJ piece appeasing Washington was published, he verbally slammed US envoy to Africa Massad Boulos as “an obstacle to the peace sought by all Sudanese.”
This outburst of fury by Al-Burhan was elicited by Boulos’ delivery of a ceasefire plan drafted by the Sudan Quad, a multilateral mediation group comprised of the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Emirates has long been accused of supplying weapons and logistical support to the RSF. Sudan has previously voiced its rejection of the Quad’s legitimacy on the basis of Emirati involvement, stating that it risks rendering the mediation efforts as “non-neutral.”
Al-Burhan was likely alluding to the UAE as he wrote that “many believe he [Trump] has the resolve to confront the foreign actors prolonging our suffering.” Indeed, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently put pressure on Abu Dhabi to cut off the RSF’s weapons supply in line with an arms embargo on the Darfur region.
Nevertheless, efforts to implement a lasting ceasefire between the two warring factions have all but failed.
After being urged to intervene in some capacity by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump explicitly stated that he would use his position as US President to “bring an immediate halt” to Sudan’s conflict.
The New Arab plus agencies, Wall Street Journal, Maghrebi.org
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