Sudanese army chief continues regional tour in Qatar
Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan continued a regional tour in Qatar on Thursday in a bid to "establish his legitimacy" after nearly five months of war against paramilitaries, commentators said.
General Burhan discussed with Emir Tamim ben Hamad Al-Thani "the situation in Sudan and the challenges encountered," according to Doha, before the Sudanese leader left for Sudan.
The Qatari emir called for "an end to the fighting" and for "all Sudanese political forces" to negotiate "a comprehensive agreement and a lasting peace".
Since 15 April, the war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, General Burhan's former ally during the 2021 coup and now his arch-enemy, has left 5,000 people dead, according to a highly underestimated figure, and 4.8 million displaced and refugees.
Besieged by paramilitaries for more than four months at army headquarters in Khartoum, General Burhan made his first foreign trip since the conflict began in Egypt on 29 August.
"Controlling the terrain"
At a time when rumours of negotiations to end the crisis are multiplying, he met on Monday in Juba with his close ally, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.
He is seeking to "establish his legitimacy in the eyes of the international community," Ashraf Abdelaziz, editor-in-chief of Al Jarida, an independent Sudanese daily, told AFP.
And this "in a context of vacuum and absence of the RSF chief from the scene," he adds, while General Daglo has only been seen in one video since the start of the war and only expresses himself through audio recordings posted on the internet.
In the most recent one, on Monday, he appeared agitated and berated General Burhan for 20 minutes, accusing him of all Sudan's ills.
By appearing alongside foreign heads of state, the Sudanese army chief is trying to show that the war he is waging "is only an internal conflict", says Abdelaziz.
But, he stresses, "the challenge remains to control the situation on the ground", while, in Khartoum, paramilitaries control residential neighbourhoods and harass the army in the bases where it remains stationed.
The army responds with air raids that have become more violent - and above all deadly for civilians - in recent days, in an attempt to regain a foothold in a capital where it has been fighting since the first day of the war.
RSF disbanded
General Burhan is now based in Port Sudan, a city in the east of the country that has been spared from the fighting, where government and UN officials are also based. Port Sudan is also home to the country's only operational airport.
In Darfur, a vast western region and RSF stronghold, the army is also struggling, with militants accusing it of failing to protect civilians, who are now being ethnically targeted by RSF and allied Arab militias.
While General Burhan has booked his third visit to Qatar since the start of the war, two other Gulf states are calling the shots in Sudan.
On the one hand, Saudi Arabia has played the role of mediator alongside the United States, ultimately obtaining only a series of truces that did not last. On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates supports General Daglo, who controls much of Sudan's gold mines. Abu Dhabi is the country's largest buyer of gold.
On Wednesday night, clearly keen to show that he remains the country's de facto leader, General Burhan dissolved RSF by decree, accusing it of "rebellion" and "serious violations".
Shortly before that, the United States announced that it was sanctioning RSF officials, including the brother of its leader, Abdelrahim Hamdane Daglo. Washington accuses the RSF of human rights violations and sexual violence.
Abdelrahim Hamdane Daglo called the measures "unjust" on Thursday on the Emirati-based Skynews Arabia television channel.