The United States is withholding a visa for Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan before his planned appearance at the UN General Assembly, in an effort to secure acceptance of a US-backed ceasefire proposal in Sudan’s civil war.
US officials have made Burhan’s attendance in New York conditional on his agreement to a 90-day ceasefire proposed by Massad Boulos, the US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs. Sudan’s army raised reservations about the proposal in July.
A senior Sudanese source said Burhan had postponed his trip to New York, although he had yet to receive formal notification that his visa application had been refused. Sudan’s foreign minister is expected to address the UN in his place, according to a source.
The dispute has brought a diplomatic argument over the UN’s host country arrangements into a war that began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The UN has described the conflict as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Sudan’s permanent mission at the UN has lodged a formal complaint with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concerning US host country commitments. Sudan has also asked the UN to intervene over the visa.
A Sudanese government source said: “We in the Sudanese government express our deep regret because this is a violation of the UN Convention and international law”.
Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for Guterres, said the secretary-general was “deeply concerned that a visa has reportedly not yet been issued to the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of the Sudan”. Guterres is engaging with American diplomats in an effort to settle the dispute and uphold the UN Headquarters Agreement, Dujarric said.
The argument comes as Washington seeks to increase pressure on Sudan’s army leadership. The US is also proposing to extend the existing arms embargo over Sudan’s Darfur region to the rest of the country.
Burhan has led Sudan’s army and served as the country’s de facto leader since 2019. He joined Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces, in a 2021 coup against civilian leadership before the two leaders later went to war.
In an article published by the US outlet Foreign Policy on Monday, Burhan rejected outside direction over the conduct of the conflict. He wrote: “Ceasefires have collapsed over the course of this war because they were written about Sudan without Sudan”.
A Sudanese diplomatic source said: “Burhan rejects this take-it-or-leave-it approach, any proposal is subject to suggestions and changes”.
The State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said neither the Sudanese Armed Forces nor the Rapid Support Forces, and neither side’s leaders, “represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan”.
The US has pursued mediation through a format involving the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, alongside its proposed 90-day ceasefire. It remains unclear whether Washington will issue the visa, what conditions it would set for doing so, or whether Burhan will accept or formally reject the ceasefire proposal.
For now, the immediate question is whether UN engagement with the US can resolve the travel dispute. The larger disagreement, over who may set the terms of a pause in Sudan’s war, remains unsettled.
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