Officers from the office of Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are directly managing key aspects of the political dialogue promoted by the Port Sudan authorities, including selecting invitees, contacting politicians abroad and arranging travel and accommodation, according to Sudanese sources cited by Erem News.
The reported role of Burhan’s office has raised fresh questions over whether the initiative can credibly be described as an independent national dialogue rather than a process organised under the supervision of the military leadership.
Sources told Erem News that officers attached to Burhan’s office were involved in preparing lists of participants, reaching out to Sudanese political figures outside the country and organising their travel to Sudan.
They were also said to have helped determine who would be hosted, arrange accommodation and logistics, and coordinate the arrival of some participants in Khartoum.
The sources said the involvement went significantly beyond security arrangements or routine government facilitation and extended into the organisational structure of the dialogue itself.
That level of involvement, they said, has fuelled concerns that the process is being shaped by the same authority whose role and legitimacy are among the central issues dividing Sudanese political forces.
The controversy has also exposed uncertainty over the body supposedly overseeing the initiative.
According to the sources, comments by Professor Qassim Badri indicated that the dialogue committee had not originally been created through a formal decision defining its membership, leadership or institutional structure.
What initially existed, they said, was a limited voluntary effort intended to encourage political dialogue before giving way to a more formal political process.
The character of the initiative reportedly changed once Burhan’s office became directly involved in its implementation.
The revelations are likely to deepen scepticism among political groups that have already questioned whether talks organised from territory controlled by the Port Sudan authorities can operate independently of military influence.
Quintet engagement does not amount to endorsement
Sources also played down the significance of recent contacts between the international Quintet and the Port Sudan authorities, saying such meetings should not be interpreted as international recognition of the dialogue as an inclusive national process.
They said diplomatic engagement with the authorities did not amount to granting the initiative political legitimacy or acknowledging it as representative of Sudan’s wider political forces.
The Quintet has been engaging Sudanese actors amid international efforts to revive a political process while the war continues.
Calls to separate peace talks from political transition
National Umma Party assistant president Urwa al-Sadiq said any genuine national dialogue must be capable of reaching decisions that could contradict the interests of the authority operating in the territory where the talks are held.
Speaking to Erem News, Sadiq said international meetings with the Port Sudan leadership did not change the reality of the conflict and did not give any single platform the right to claim representation of the Sudanese people.
He argued that Sudan’s crisis required two separate tracks: one focused on ending the war and another dealing with state-building and the future system of government.
The latest allegations place renewed scrutiny on the Port Sudan-backed dialogue and, in particular, on whether a process whose invitations, travel arrangements and logistics are reportedly being handled by Burhan’s own office can operate independently of the military leadership.
