Sudanese political figures and activists are calling on the United States to place Sudan’s Islamist movement on international terrorism lists, arguing that it should be treated on par with the Muslim Brotherhood branches recently designated by Washington as terrorist organizations.
The Trump administration has moved to classify three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist groups and imposed sanctions on their members. The U.S. Treasury and State Departments said the targeted Brotherhood affiliates in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt pose a threat to U.S. national security and American interests in the region.
International pressure to end the war
Khalid Omar Yousif, a senior figure in the pro-revolution “Somoud” coalition, described the U.S. decision as an important and serious step in the right direction. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Yousif cited statements by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury officials warning that the Muslim Brotherhood represents a major threat to regional and international stability.
Yousif said the move should be seen as only a first phase, arguing that designating Sudan’s Islamist movement and the former ruling National Congress Party as terrorist organizations is essential. He said Sudan’s Islamists are among the most dangerous Brotherhood branches in the region, having ruled the country for 30 years during which they looted state resources and used Sudan as a hub for exporting extremism and hosting militant groups beyond its borders.
He added that growing international awareness of the group’s role makes its inclusion on terrorism lists only a matter of time, noting that Islamist policies previously led to Sudan being placed on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and to recent sanctions against some of its leaders during the current war.
Yousif concluded by saying that Sudan’s Islamist movement was responsible for igniting the conflict and continues to obstruct efforts to stop the fighting, calling for intensified international pressure to relieve the suffering of the Sudanese people.
Designation driven by interests, not ideology
Journalist and former diplomat Makki al-Maghribi, who is considered close to Islamist circles, said Washington’s calculations are often misunderstood. He argued that legal designation prevents the United States from engaging with a group and is only pursued when Washington believes it no longer needs any form of contact.
Al-Maghribi told Radio Dabanga that if a political actor remains relevant to U.S. interests, Washington avoids imposing legal barriers that would restrict communication, even if it does not favor that actor.
He criticized what he described as “political amateurs” who assume that personal hostility toward a group automatically translates into U.S. hostility, or who believe financial lobbying can instantly change American policy. He said U.S. decisions are governed by precise legal and intelligence considerations.
Al-Maghribi added that Islamist ideology itself does not concern Washington as much as whether such groups can be managed as influential actors and whether they obstruct U.S. interests. He pointed to U.S. discourse on “moderate jihadists” and cited the White House’s engagement with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, as an example of pragmatic politics.
He concluded that ideological disputes and historical grievances are insufficient on their own to shape outcomes in international politics.
Exclusionary ideology and the roots of war
Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman, a former member of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council and a leader in the Somoud coalition, said the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization came decades too late. He argued that the movement’s eight-decade history demonstrates its role in terrorism, state fragmentation, and social division.
Al-Faki said Sudanese Islamists were initially treated as a legitimate political and intellectual current after independence, participating in parliamentary politics and public life. Despite gaining parliamentary representation beyond their true popular weight, Sudanese society accepted electoral outcomes and sought to counter the Islamists politically rather than overturn the democratic system.
He said the turning point came when Islamists overthrew democracy, ignited religious war in Sudan, and transformed the conflict in South Sudan into a religious struggle for the first time in the country’s political history, contributing directly to Sudan’s eventual partition.
After 30 years of Islamist rule, al-Faki said, a full-scale revolution erupted, overthrowing the regime and establishing a transitional government. He said Islamists rejected the outcome, undermined the transition, and ultimately escalated the conflict into full-scale war, describing this as the inevitable result of exclusionary Islamist ideology.
Gravest crimes
Abdallah Harran, deputy leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement–Army faction that signed the Nairobi Declaration, said U.S. measures against Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon were significant, but warned that Islamists operating in Sudan represent the most dangerous manifestation of the movement.
Harran said one of the core demands of the Nairobi Declaration was the designation of Sudan’s Islamic Movement and the National Congress Party as terrorist organizations due to decades of accumulated crimes, beginning with the September Laws under former president Jaafar Nimeiri.
He told Radio Dabanga that Islamist rule resulted in the deaths of nearly two million Sudanese in Kordofan and Darfur. He added that after the fall of Omar al-Bashir, Islamists committed further atrocities, sabotaged the transitional period, and played a central role in triggering the April 15 war, while continuing to promote rhetoric favoring continued fighting.
Harran said the call to designate Sudan’s Islamists as terrorists is not driven by foreign agendas but by documented facts on the ground, arguing that Sudanese political and civil forces have the right to classify the movement based on evidence and lived experience.
