Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has rejected calls for him to run for president and denied having any connection to a committee preparing a proposed national political dialogue.
Burhan, who also heads Sudan’s Sovereign Council, made the remarks during a limited gathering in the Al-Muhandiseen district of Omdurman.
He said his current responsibility was focused on what he described as “cleansing the country of the rebellion,” referring to the war against the Rapid Support Forces, which has continued since April 2023.
Burhan said he had no desire to be nominated for the presidency by any political or other group.
He also sharply criticised the former Forces of Freedom and Change coalition, whose members later became part of the Sumoud alliance, describing them as “amorphous forces” that had misled Sudanese citizens by claiming leadership of the December 2019 revolution that brought down longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir.
According to Burhan, the coalition refused to cooperate with the military during Sudan’s transitional period and later aligned itself with the RSF.
He said that chapter had now ended after imposing what he described as a heavy cost on the Sudanese people.
Burhan also repeated his claim that the Sudanese Armed Forces are politically neutral and do not belong to any political organisation or movement.
Burhan distances himself from dialogue initiative
Separately, Burhan denied any involvement with the Committee for Preparing the Sudanese-Sudanese National Dialogue, describing it instead as a grassroots initiative intended to facilitate discussions among political and civilian groups.
His comments came amid renewed efforts by political actors to promote a dialogue process over Sudan’s future as the war continues.
Babiker Faisal, a senior figure in the Sumoud alliance, disputed Burhan’s account of the transitional period.
Faisal said the former Forces of Freedom and Change had worked to prevent a confrontation between the army and the RSF and had mediated between the two sides before fighting eventually erupted.
Meanwhile, lawyer Nabil Adib, coordinator of the legal department of the dialogue preparation committee, said the body would begin contacting political and civilian groups next week.
Adib said armed parties would be excluded from the initial outreach and predicted broad participation from civilian political forces.
