Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been accused of offering an open budget to expand a coordinated media campaign aimed at discrediting evidence implicating his forces in the development and use of chemical weapons.
Al-Sayha newspaper, citing informed sources, reported that Burhan instructed his office to organise a meeting involving pro-army journalists and media figures associated with the former ruling National Congress Party.
The sources alleged that Burhan was prepared to finance flights, accommodation and other expenses for journalists travelling from several countries to support the campaign, launched under the slogan “Where are the chemical weapons?” The Sudan Times could not independently verify the funding claim.
However, the existence and organised nature of the campaign have been publicly confirmed.
The pro-army Al-Adasa Media Network said it launched the initiative to send journalists, broadcasters and social-media influencers into Khartoum’s streets and war-damaged districts. Participants are recording civilian interviews and scenes of everyday life that campaign organisers claim disprove allegations against the Islamist-aligned army.
The network said it intends to distribute professionally produced Arabic- and English-language reports, videos and digital material to international audiences and human rights organisations.
Critics have dismissed the exercise as crude propaganda, arguing that images of busy streets and residents going about their lives cannot establish whether toxic chemicals were deployed at particular locations during earlier military operations.
Arabic-language commentary has identified pro-army media figures Dalia Elias and Jadia Mohamed Othman among the campaign’s most visible participants. Their appearances in Khartoum asking residents “Where are the chemical weapons?” triggered ridicule and criticism from Sudanese journalists and activists.
Chemical attacks cannot be confirmed or disproved through casual street interviews. Establishing their use requires laboratory testing, medical records, environmental samples, examination of munitions and unrestricted access for qualified international investigators.
The campaign emerged after international and Arabic-language media published reports describing military communications, documents, images and other material allegedly connected to a secret programme to develop chlorine-based munitions.
Sky News Arabia also broadcast interviews with alleged victims and presented what it described as evidence and testimony concerning chemical attacks in Sudan.
The Sudan Founding Alliance, or TASIS, has accused the army of using internationally prohibited chemical weapons and preparing to deploy more.
TASIS spokesman Ahmed Tugud Lisan said the alleged programme was not an isolated battlefield initiative but a political and organisational decision taken at the highest level of the army’s command structure.
He accused the Islamist army of diverting chlorine—a substance needed for treating drinking water—into weapons intended to preserve its grip on power. TASIS called on foreign governments to withdraw support from the army and demanded urgent international action.
The army has denied using chemical weapons. But instead of opening suspected production sites, military records and alleged attack locations to independent investigators, its supporters have turned to a publicity campaign centred on footage that cannot scientifically resolve the allegations.
The reported intervention by Burhan’s office, if confirmed, would indicate that the army’s senior leadership is seeking to manage the scandal through an internationally directed media operation as pressure grows for an independent investigation.
For Burhan, the question is therefore no longer simply “Where are the chemical weapons?”
It is whether he will grant international investigators unrestricted access to the evidence—or continue relying on loyal journalists and carefully staged street videos to answer allegations that require forensic examination.
