Sudan’s Burhan rejects US truce conditions, says no visa needed

September 26, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejected international pressure and a U.S. entry visa on Saturday, defying Washington’s push to tie his travel to an unconditional three-month truce.

The comments were Burhan’s first public response to Washington withholding his visa to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York.

U.S. officials had linked the visa to an agreement on a ceasefire proposal presented by Massad Boulos, senior adviser on Arab affairs to the U.S. president.

“We will not backtrack on what we said: we do not want a visa to any country, nor do we want their permission, nor do we want anything,” Burhan told a crowd of sports figures and content creators at Khartoum Stadium.

“We will stay here with you until we die here in this country,” he said.

Sudan’s army has been locked in a devastating war since April 2023 with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), creating the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.

Burhan ruled out compromises or concessions, saying the Sudanese people could not be blackmailed or intimidated.

“Our goal is to eliminate this militia, no matter the cost,” Burhan said, referring to the RSF. “Our goal is to cleanse Sudan all the way to Darfur. We will not let them go; we will reach them wherever they entered, place by place.”

Sudan’s permanent representative to the U.N., Al-Harith Idriss, had previously asked U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to intervene with U.S. authorities over the visa delay.

U.N. officials said they had raised the matter with Washington, and Guterres voiced serious concern over the non-issuance.

Under the 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access to the world body for foreign diplomats, but Washington has historically denied or restricted visas to foreign leaders on national security and foreign policy grounds.

Burhan commended military forces fighting on the front lines, as well as youth supporting the war effort on social media, and promised that the military leadership would not back down from its campaign to defeat the paramilitary group.