Sudanese political groups hold talks in Addis Ababa on army chief’s dialogue offer

August 22, 2026 (ADDIS ABABA) – A broad coalition of Sudanese anti-war political groups gathered in the Ethiopian capital on Saturday to weigh peace proposals and formulate a unified response to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s call for domestic dialogue.

The two-day consultative meeting brings together signatories to the Sudanese Declaration of Principles, the Islamist Popular Congress Party, a faction of the Umma Party led by Mubarak al-Fadil, and various civil society organizations.

General al-Burhan said on August 14 that he had agreed to security, legal, and political guarantees proposed by an independent national panel to host an all-inclusive intra-Sudanese dialogue inside the country.

The participating factions, who describe themselves as non-aligned in the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), are debating whether engaging in domestic talks would advance peace or jeopardize broader ceasefire efforts.

The meeting also reviews the military trajectory of the conflict, foreign mediation initiatives, and a roadmap to end hostilities that have displaced millions since April 2023.

Several civilian blocs, including the Somoud alliance headed by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abdel Wahid al-Nur’s Sudan Liberation Movement, have voiced scepticism about holding negotiations inside Sudan while fighting rages across the country.

Hamdok’s Somoud coalition has maintained that international mediation and an immediate nationwide ceasefire must precede any comprehensive political process to restore democratic civilian rule.