Muslim Brotherhood, al-Burhan and the legacy of deception
By Dr Omar El-Garrai
The Muslim Brotherhood has repeatedly relied on deception and evasion. After their government, led by Al-Burhan, agreed twice to peace negotiations in Jeddah, it abruptly abandoned the talks and later denied agreeing to them. It then participated in the Manama negotiations and signed an agreement with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), only to fall silent afterwards as if the deal had never existed, despite witnesses worldwide. This pattern continued in Geneva, where the Muslim Brotherhood government wavered between participation and withdrawal.
When the Quad came into the picture, the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan initially agreed and covertly sent a delegation to the United States to negotiate. Yet domestically, they continued attacking residential areas with aircraft and targeting civilians, calling for a ceasefire. When the Brotherhood’s government realized the Quad’s proposal would not favour them, they rejected it outright and demanded an unconditional surrender of the RSF. Naturally, the Quad rejected this vision. When the RSF unexpectedly accepted the Quad’s proposal and declared a ceasefire, the Brotherhood launched a campaign to delegitimize the Quad, recently extending that effort to the United States through a Wall Street Journal article published under Al-Burhan’s name.
Al-Burhan’s article began with a blatant lie:
“Sudan is fighting not only for its survival, but for a just peace that can only be achieved with
the support of partners who recognize the truth of how the war began…. This conflict started because the RSF, a heavily-armed militia with a long record of brutality, rebelled against the state.”
The reality, however, is starkly different. Sudan is not fighting for survival. Citizens in RSF-controlled areas live in relative security, unharmed, undisplaced, and free from ethnic discrimination. The RSF has even succeeded in delivering aid and returning displaced persons to their homes. Moreover, the war is not about “just peace” because Al-Burhan’s government consistently refused to attend ceasefire negotiations. Instead, Al-Burhan seeks partners for a military victory. Hence, he relies on Egyptian airpower, Turkish and Iranian drones, and Tigrayan soldiers. All of these efforts have failed.
It was the Muslim Brotherhood brigades who ignited the war by attacking the RSF at the Sports City in Khartoum. They dragged Al-Burhan into war following the 2022 Framework Agreement, which excluded the Brotherhood and paved the way towards a democratic, civilian-led government. Brotherhood civilian and military leaders have openly testified to this. Furthermore, al-Burhan knows the RSF is not a rogue militia. Under Omer Al-Bashir, the state legalized and armed the RSF, and al-Burhan himself later amended military law to remove the provision placing the RSF under army command, effectively elevating the RSF to a parallel force. To describe the conflict as a “rebellion” is misleading. Additionally, the RSF does not have “a long record of brutality”, the army does. Al-Burhan himself participated in the killing of 250,000 and the displacement of two million people in Darfur. Because of these crimes, Al-Bashir, Ahmed Haroun, and others were issued arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court during the late 2000s. Yet al-Burhan still protects them within Sudan while blaming the RSF for their crimes.
Al-Burhan then exploited the Brotherhood’s global media deception by claiming,
“When the RSF seized the city of El Fasher in late October, it reportedly slaughtered thousands of civilians.” citing a Yale report alleging 10,000 victims.
But the truth is that these reports from Yale, The Guardian, and other global outlets relied on misleading photos and videos. Some were manipulated by Photoshop or artificial intelligence, while others were recycled from unrelated conflicts or events. France 24 experts exposed these falsehoods, prompting media corrections worldwide. Only those who rely solely on the Muslim Brotherhood media remain deceived.
In the same article, al-Burhan admitted: “I long recognized that the RSF was a powder keg.” Yet his actions contradict this claim. He increased the RSF’s armament, appointed its commander as his deputy, and threatened to step down if that appointment was refused. He also allowed RSF forces to deploy throughout Khartoum, positioning the very “powder keg” he now condemns in the capital.
Al-Burhan then turned to courting the American government, writing,
“The war threatens the stability of the Red Sea to our East and the fragile Sahel to our West. And it poses a direct danger to U.S. interests.”
As if American officials are unaware that Islamist groups and the Muslim Brotherhood, not the RSF, have threatened U.S. interests and attacked its embassies. Osama bin Laden, who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, resided and invested in Sudan under Brotherhood protection. Who else chants slogans like,
“America and Russia, their punishment is near”?
Meanwhile, al-Burhan’s government has repeatedly promised Russia a naval base on the Red Sea and offered troop deployments and mining concessions in exchange for military support.
Al-Burhan’s attempt to ingratiate himself with America continues:
“Sudan wants to be a strong partner to the U.S. We want to help protect regional stability, fight terrorism, and rebuild our shattered cities and towns. American companies will have an important role to play in reconstruction, investment, and long-term development.”
His attempt to present himself as a counter-terrorism partner is equally deceptive. Dozens of extremist factions operate openly within the armed forces, including units whose leaders publicly praise terrorism, such as the Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade. Al-Burhan’s talk of reconstruction contracts for American companies is also false, given that Al-Burhan’s government has previously signed such agreements with Egyptian companies.
The height of al-Burhan’s ingratiation is his claim of closeness to Israel.
“Under my leadership, Sudan took a historic step in 2021 by joining the Abraham Accords. We believe peace and cooperation are the only path to a stable Middle East and Horn of Africa. That vision still guides us.”
Al-Burhan, who has assisted and enabled Hamas in Sudan and who aligns with the Muslim Brotherhood who consistently demonstrated against Israel and chanted in the streets.
“Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return,” now claims to support normalization and the Abraham Accords, which call for reconciliation among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Al-Burhan is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and was its representative when he was commissioner in the Nierteti locality in Darfur. Does he not know that the Muslim Brotherhood’s interpretation of the Islamic Sharia commands fighting the People of the Book (Jews and Christians)? Al-Burhan does not possess a modern understanding of Islam that sees the time-bound nature of the initial Sharia. Instead, he holds only the Salafist interpretation embraced by the Muslim Brotherhood. At his core, al-Burhan’s narrative is driven not by truth or principle but by the Muslim Brotherhood’s loss of power.