The Sudan Founding Alliance (TASIS) has welcomed a statement from the US State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs on the alleged use of chemical weapons by General al-Burhan’s army (SAF), while accusing SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of spreading “lies and contradictions” in a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
In a statement, TASIS spokesperson Alaa al-Din Naqd thanked the US Africa Bureau for calling on the Sudanese government to immediately acknowledge violations related to the use of chemical weapons, halt any further use, and cooperate fully with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to address the abuses.
Naqd said the US position amounted to confirmation that chemical agents had been used “by the Muslim Brotherhood’s army and the dissolved National Congress Party regime” against Sudanese civilians in the current war, which he described as a conflict “the Islamists bear full responsibility for igniting.”
He argued that the alleged chemical attacks were “one episode in a long chain of crimes committed by this global terrorist network,” portraying Sudan’s former ruling National Congress Party as one of its key pillars. Sudan, he said, was the only country where this movement had held power for three decades, “dividing the country, killing its people, spreading hatred and racism and turning it into a hub for terrorism and extremists.”
Naqd also sharply criticised Burhan’s opinion article in the Wall Street Journal, saying it was “packed with lies and contradictions.”
He noted that Burhan alternately portrayed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a group that had rebelled against the state, while “there has been no state since the coup of 25 October 2021.” He added that RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) had publicly acknowledged and apologised for the coup and later backed the framework agreement, which TASIS argues prompted hardline elements around Burhan to launch the current war to destroy the RSF and crush the revolution.
The statement highlighted what it called further inconsistencies in Burhan’s narrative, saying he now describes the RSF as a “powder keg ready to explode” even though he previously boasted of convincing Dagalo to join the Sovereignty Council during the transition and personally oversaw legal changes that gave the RSF more autonomy and power.
According to Naqd, Burhan “did not realise that within these forces lay the end of his rule and the collapse of his Islamist system.”
Naqd expressed outrage that “those who used chemical weapons against civilians, ignited this war and continue to sabotage every peace forum” were given space to publish in a high-profile outlet such as the Wall Street Journal, arguing that such platforms should not be used “to spread their poison and lies in the name of Sudanese people or the marginalised and oppressed.”
He called on Sudanese society and the wider international community to confront what he labelled a “terrorist system” that continues to fuel the conflict “through incendiary rhetoric, mobilising youth, rejecting humanitarian truces and issuing extremist statements,” citing recent remarks by SAF figures and allied Islamist groups that depict civilians in areas under the TASIS-aligned authorities as legitimate targets.
Such statements, Naqd stressed, must be taken seriously and their authors pursued for accountability. The statement urged foreign governments and institutions “not to be lenient with Burhan and his allies,” and not to grant them platforms or legitimacy while they are “accused of using chemical weapons and prolonging the war.”
