Sudanese political and civilian groups meeting in Addis Ababa have rejected army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s latest call for dialogue, describing it as a political manoeuvre that cannot produce a credible peace process while the war continues.
The position emerged after two days of intensive consultations in the Ethiopian capital involving political alliances, parties, resistance committees and civil society groups opposed to the war.
Participants said they had reached broad agreement on a common position and a roadmap aimed at ending the conflict and addressing Sudan’s worsening humanitarian crisis.
Wagdi Saleh, spokesperson for the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, told Sudan Tribune that the meetings brought together most political and civilian forces seeking an end to the war and produced a shared vision for peace.
Saleh said the discussions focused on an immediate cessation of hostilities, urgent measures to address the humanitarian consequences of the conflict and greater pressure on regional and international actors to help bring the fighting to an end.
He said the groups had also agreed on a unified position rejecting Burhan’s dialogue initiative.
“Our rejection is based on a fundamental point: the invitation comes from one of the parties to the war, which continues to insist on pursuing the fighting while refusing negotiations,” Saleh said.
He added that the groups would not participate in any political process that did not lead directly toward ending the war.
Saleh said the Addis Ababa conclusions had been communicated to diplomatic missions and international partners, while stressing that any future political process should be Sudanese-owned and clearly define its participants and agenda.
The consultations reportedly included members of the Nairobi Declaration bloc, the Popular Congress Party, the Ba’ath Party, the National Umma Party, resistance committees and several revolutionary and civilian organisations.
Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman, a senior figure in the Sumoud alliance and the Federal Gathering, said the meetings demonstrated that the anti-war political camp was attracting new groups and voices.
He said participants had warned regional and international partners that the continuation of the conflict threatened Sudan’s survival and had called for coordinated international pressure to halt the fighting and address the humanitarian catastrophe.
Al-Faki sharply criticised Burhan’s proposed dialogue, saying the initiative was designed to reorganise the political landscape around one side of the conflict rather than produce a genuine settlement.
“This dialogue contains a major deception and threatens Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity,” he said, arguing that it sought to create a political alignment supporting the continuation of the war and to legitimise Burhan’s rule over areas controlled by the army.
He said the participating groups hoped more Sudanese political and civilian forces would join the emerging anti-war coalition and described the current alliance as a platform capable of engaging positively with regional and international mediation efforts.
Mohamed Badr al-Din Hamed, deputy secretary-general of the Popular Congress Party, was even more dismissive, describing Burhan’s initiative as a repetition of former president Omar al-Bashir’s National Dialogue process.
He called it a “political tactic” and a “manoeuvring banner” intended to help the authorities withstand mounting international pressure and sanctions linked to alleged violations and the alleged use of prohibited weapons.
“The Sudanese people can no longer endure more suffering,” Hamed said. “The central issue now is stopping the war and rebuilding the Sudanese state after the conflict destroyed the foundations of normal life.”
He said the Addis Ababa participants had agreed on a common framework for dealing with the international community and multilateral mediation efforts.
The growing rejection of Burhan’s initiative underscores the widening political divide over who can credibly lead a peace process while Sudan remains divided between rival military and political centres of power.
