Sudan’s de facto leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has rejected a joint American-Egyptian invitation to hold a face-to-face meeting in Cairo with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti,” effectively slamming the brakes on a fresh push to restart peace efforts.
According to Sudanese diplomatic sources, the proposal—developed through intense contacts between Cairo and Washington—envisioned separate talks led by President Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, Masad Boulos, with Burhan and Dagalo, joined by Egyptian and Emirati officials, followed by a direct Burhan-Dagalo session.
The plan also contemplated the presence of former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to help rebuild trust among Sudan’s rivals.
Those arrangements collapsed when Burhan refused any direct meeting with Dagalo or with Emirati officials, whom he accused of backing Sudanese factions aligned “to destroy Sudan,” the sources said.
With Burhan’s latest refusal—seen by mediators as a rebuff to a request conveyed on behalf of President Trump—prospects for near-term de-escalation dimmed further, despite mounting international pressure to end the war and open sustained political talks.
