Burhan Announces Plans for Internal Political Dialogue on Democratic Transition

May 26, Khartoum — Sudanese Sovereignty Council chief and army commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced Tuesday that arrangements are underway to launch a comprehensive political dialogue inside Sudan aimed at reaching consensus on completing the country’s civilian democratic transition.

Speaking in an Eid al-Adha address to the Sudanese people, Burhan said the planned dialogue would bring together Sudanese stakeholders to lay the foundations for national construction, agree on governing principles, and decide on a path toward civilian democratic rule.

“The government of Sudan will provide everything necessary to ensure the success of this dialogue, which will be held inside Sudan and attended by those who bear the pain of this country,” Burhan said, in an apparent reference to groups directly affected by the war and political crisis.

He said invitations would be extended to national forces “whose hands are not stained with the blood of the Sudanese people,” and that the government would commit to implementing the dialogue’s outcomes.

Burhan rejected externally driven political processes, saying the Sudanese people would not accept outcomes from conferences held in foreign capitals that are “bought and sold,” nor would they accept solutions or dictates of an ideological nature or tied to the agendas of outside states.

Sudan has been mired in political division since Burhan ousted the civilian government on October 25, 2021, derailing a post-revolution transition that had followed the popular uprising that toppled former president Omar al-Bashir. Tensions between the military and civilian forces deepened in the years that followed, before erupting into full-scale war on April 15, 2023, when fighting broke out between the army and the Rapid Support Forces over disputes surrounding force integration and the structure of military authority. The war has since triggered a sweeping humanitarian and security crisis and further entrenched political fragmentation.