The commander of the Al-Baraa bin Malik militia brigade, Misbah Abu Zeid Talha, has shut down his social media accounts days after the United States designated the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan as a terrorist organization, informed sources said on Thursday.
Talha is widely viewed as one of the most prominent figures associated with the Sudanese Islamist movement’s role in the war. He has been described by analysts as a public face of the network aligned with Islamist factions operating alongside General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s forces, the SAF.
Sources said the decision to close the accounts came amid fears of electronic monitoring and potential legal scrutiny following the U.S. designation, which places the group and affiliated factions under heightened international surveillance.
The American move is expected to create new complications for Sudan’s military establishment, as reports continue to surface about individuals with ideological or organizational links to the Islamist movement operating within some SAF units.
Analysts say the designation could affect the army’s external relationships, particularly in areas such as arms procurement, military training, and security cooperation with foreign partners.
Military observers note that Islamist influence inside Sudan’s armed forces dates back to the early 1990s, when the government of former president Omar al-Bashir implemented policies aimed at embedding loyal members of the Islamist movement within state institutions, including the military and security apparatus.
Former officers say those policies included admitting large numbers of Islamist affiliates into the military academy while dismissing thousands of officers considered politically unreliable.
Retired officer Hashem Aburnat said the Islamist organization had worked since 1989 to strengthen its presence within the armed forces by integrating loyal members while purging more than 13,000 officers, reshaping the structure of the military establishment.
