Subscribe to our Lens on Sudan newsletter here. Washington is pushing in the United Nations Security Council to take the Darfur arms embargo nationwide. US Senior Advisor on Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos put the proposal on the table on Monday, after first floating the idea at a council session in June. The draft would expand the 2005 Darfur sanctions regime to all of Sudan, while explicitly bringing drones and related technology under the embargo. The current regime expires in September unless amended or renewed. Boulos pointed to the growing toll from drone warfare, saying drones accounted for nearly 80 percent of casualties this year and that both sides continue to strike civilians and civilian infrastructure. Khartoum rejected the proposal outright. Sudan’s ambassador to the UN Al-Harith Idriss said applying the same restrictions nationwide would amount to equating “the state institutions and the rebel militia,” calling the proposal an attack on Sudan’s sovereignty. Washington has to get past Russia and China, which both pushed back against expanding the sanctions regime and can veto any council resolution. So while the proposal has support from some council members, it is unlikely to go anywhere without a compromise. Sudan’s drone war crossed its borders twice over the past days. In western Sudan, military drones struck a convoy of hundreds of Rapid Support Forces vehicles on August 20 inside Chad’s eastern Ennedi region, near the Sudanese border. Two Sudanese military sources said the convoy had been assembled over several weeks at camps in southeastern Libya, and was preparing to enter Darfur through Chad using a new route through North Darfur’s Wadi Howar. Chad condemned the strike as a violation of its sovereignty and warned that it reserved the right to respond, prompting the African Union to call for restraint and dialogue to prevent a regional escalation. The Sudanese military has yet to comment. On the other side of the country, the military said a strategic drone crossed into Blue Nile State from Ethiopian territory and was shot down over Dindro. Inside the RSF camp, its main ally in the war and its parallel government, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, continues to grapple with an internal crisis that is becoming harder to contain. Fighting with one of its oldest constituencies, the Otoro tribe, has returned to Kauda, the movement’s political and military center in South Kordofan, with control shifting between the two sides over the past two weeks. RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo intervened and called for a ceasefire, but overlapping control on the ground made that impossible to sustain. The ceasefire collapsed, and Otoro fighters regained the upper hand in Kauda. Some Otoro groups are now calling for Hilu to step down and are seeking alliances with other Nuba Mountains constituencies to challenge a political order that the SPLM-N has dominated for decades, but which has increasingly been concentrated in a narrow circle around Hilu, two Otoro leaders told Mada Masr. And while there is still no end in sight to the war’s battles, Khartoum is preparing to use September’s UN General Assembly in New York to consolidate a post-Khartoum political posture and present its vision for Sudan’s political and institutional order after the war, according to Sudanese diplomatic and government sources informed of the preparations. Transitional Sovereignty Council Chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan remains the leading option to head the delegation. But US sanctions imposed on him in 2025 could make his participation complicated, prompting the government to consider other senior officials if necessary. The government plans to put its internal political dialogue on the New York agenda. The process, now being hurried in Khartoum, is to be presented as nationally owned, with international actors there to support and facilitate rather than dictate its agenda or outcome. But a political source close to the dialogue said New York will test the international response to a process whose current, state-curated form is already being rejected by parts of the civilian political camp. Sudanese political and civilian forces, opposed to both the war and a military-led political process, rejected Burhan’s call for a dialogue, saying that any process launched while fighting continues — and conducted under military control — would reproduce the wartime balance of power rather than help end it. The collective rejection came at the end of consultative meetings held in Addis Ababa on Saturday and Sunday. *** Military strikes RSF convoy inside Chadian territory, sparks regional concerns The RSF convoy that was struck by the military, August 26. Courtesy: @AbedaMoham6183 on X A fleet of military drones struck a convoy of hundreds of RSF combat vehicles, fuel trucks and military supply vehicles inside Chad on August 20, about 78 kilometers from the Sudanese border, a military source told Mada Masr. Chad said the strike on its territory threatened its sovereignty and warned that it reserved the right to respond, prompting the African Union to urge restraint and dialogue to avert a regional escalation. According to the military source, the convoy had been assembled over several weeks at camps in southeastern Libya and was preparing to move into Darfur through Chad. The source said its objective was to reinforce RSF positions and participate in attacks on military-held areas in North Darfur and West Darfur, while helping the paramilitary group halt recent military advances on fronts in North Kordofan. One of the convoy’s immediate targets, according to the source, was Tina, the strategic border town in North Darfur and one of the last military-held pockets in the region. A second military source said that after the strike inside Chad, RSF fighters scattered. The military’s air operations room relayed their locations to the joint force of military-allied armed movements operating on the ground, and they moved to surround the fighters, the source added, saying the men had been wandering through the desert on foot. Some of the fighters managed to reach the Chadian town of Um Jaras in dire condition, according to the source. Videos released by fighters from the joint force showed dozens of captured RSF fighters in poor condition, apparently weakened by thirst and hunger. The joint force of military-allied armed movements said it destroyed 49 combat vehicles during an operation “in the desert axis,” captured 30 others and seized batteries used for operating drones, while detaining 70 RSF fighters. The first military source said the RSF has been seeking to establish new supply routes from southeastern Libya through Chadian territory and into North Darfur’s Wadi Howar to evade military ambushes and sustained strikes along its main supply route through the Sudan-Libya-Egypt border triangle. In a statement on Saturday, the Chadian armed forces said aircraft and drones believed to belong to the Sudanese military, or forces supporting it, attacked a convoy inside its eastern Ennedi region. The Chadian military placed all its units on maximum alert in anticipation of further field developments and said it reserved the right to take measures necessary to defend the country’s sovereignty. The Sudanese military has yet to comment. AU Commission Chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf expressed deep concern over the incident and reaffirmed the AU’s commitment to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of its member states and the inviolability of their borders. In a statement issued Wednesday, Youssouf called on all parties to “exercise utmost restraint, refrain from any action likely to heighten tensions between neighbouring States, and take all necessary measures to prevent the conflict in Sudan from extending beyond the country’s borders.” He also called for dialogue and cooperation among regional states to prevent cross-border incidents and reduce the risk of regional escalation, saying he was ready to support any initiative by the countries concerned aimed at de-escalation. US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos said on Thursday that he held a call with Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby, where they discussed the military strike. “We […] underscored our deep concern about the war in Sudan spilling across its borders, fueling further escalation, and threatening regional peace and stability. External financial and military support to the warring parties must stop,” Boulos said. Military commander Mohamed Adam Kash, who heads the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi in North Darfur, denied that Sudan breached Chad’s borders. Speaking to Mada Masr, he insisted that Sudanese forces engaged the RSF inside Sudanese territory and that “there was no indication they crossed into Chadian airspace.” Kash said the force destroyed during the operation sought to enter through Wadi Howar and included large numbers of foreign fighters who knew little about Sudan or its geography. Many became scattered across the desert and were captured, he added. Kash called on Chad and other neighboring countries not to allow their borders to be used by convoys carrying mercenaries and military equipment intended for what he described as “attacks on Sudanese civilians.” He said supply routes to the RSF remain open along Sudan’s borders with South Sudan, Libya, Chad and Ethiopia, describing this as a violation of good-neighborly relations and respect for Sudanese sovereignty. The Sudan-Chad border stretches across a vast area and cannot be sealed or controlled by either side alone, Kash said. Unless Chad cooperates as a neighboring state, he stressed, the border will remain open to the movement of weapons and military equipment. *** RSF builds up forces in preparation for North Kordofan offensive More than 400 RSF combat vehicles carrying troops and weapons have been assembled in West Kordofan as the paramilitary group prepares for an operation against areas in North Kordofan it recently lost to the military, according to a field source in the military-aligned mobilized civilian brigades. The vehicles are being concentrated in Nuhud and the towns of Ghobeish and Laeet, the source told Mada Masr. They are arriving from Darfur in small groups, sometimes just five vehicles at a time, to reduce the risk of detection and attack by the military’s air force, they added. The buildup coincides with tighter restrictions in Nuhud. The RSF shut down all public markets and cut Starlink satellite communications there on Wednesday, according to the Dar Hamar emergency room. The emergency room said the measures were imposed as residents and displaced people were already facing difficult living conditions and relying heavily on satellite communications to contact relatives, receive money transfers and manage basic needs. It warned that the shutdown could amount to a commercial blockade and further restrict civilian life, calling for urgent intervention by regional and international humanitarian organizations to pressure the RSF to halt the measures and ensure continued access to essential services and communications. *** Military repels SPLM-N assault in strategic locality in South Kordofan The military repelled an attack by SPLM-N (Hilu) on the Damra area, about two kilometers outside the town of Abbasiya Tagali, South Kordofan. The attack began with intense artillery fire targeting military defenses, followed by a ground assault that was repelled by troops from the 10th Infantry Division, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking force, a field source in the military told Mada Masr. Security conditions in the Abbadiya Tagali locality have since returned to normal, the source said. The locality lies in the eastern mountains of South Kordofan and is defended by the 10th Infantry Division, which is headquartered in Abu Gebeiha. The locality links between the northern and southern parts of South Kordofan and gives the military control over key routes that influence the movement of troops and civilians in the area. *** Kauda fighting pushes Otoro groups to demand Hilu’s removal from SPLM-N leadership Otoro fighters seize an SPLM-N (al-Hilu) military vehicle during their incursion into Kauda in South Kordofan, August 23. Courtesy: Yasin Ahmed on X After weeks of fighting with one of its oldest constituencies, the SPLM-N (Hilu) has failed to keep the conflict away from Kauda, the movement’s political and military center in South Kordofan. The Otoro tribe’s fighters returned to the town this week, days after SPLM-N forces had retaken it. The latest fighting and an intervention by RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo have pushed some Otoro groups to move beyond demands for greater representation in the SPLM-N’s institutions and call for Hilu’s removal, while seeking to build a broader alliance across the Nuba Mountains around the movement’s leadership and future, two Otoro tribal leaders told Mada Masr. According to a former military source in the SPLM-N, Otoro fighters had established a foothold in parts of Kauda in clashes with the movement during the first week of August. When SPLM-N forces moved in to contain the fighting, some Otoro fighters withdrew from their positions, while others remained in place, leaving the two sides deployed in overlapping areas both inside the town and in its surroundings. The movement treated the situation as one that could be resolved gradually, the source said, with its forces working to reclaim positions without immediately seeking to clear the Otoro fighters from the town altogether. But between August 15 and 17, the SPLM-N shifted from containment to direct offensive, sending reinforcements into Kauda and advancing on the remaining Otoro positions. The operation was aimed at ending the patchwork of control that had emerged inside the town and restoring the movement’s control over its institutions and military sites, the source said. By August 18, SPLM-N forces had retaken Kauda, according to four Otoro civilian fighters in and around the town. They said the movement pushed remaining Otoro fighters out of positions they still held and redeployed forces around key institutions and facilities, while Otoro fighters withdrew toward areas on the town’s outskirts. The former military source said Otoro fighters continued to operate in the areas near Kauda, prompting the SPLM-N to redistribute its forces and military positions after taking control. Some headquarters and sensitive sites were moved outside Kauda as a precaution against renewed fighting, while some units remained inside to secure government institutions and the main roads. The arrangement was followed by an attempt to stop the fighting through mediation. On August 20, the SPLM-N announced a halt to hostilities in Kauda and Heiban in response to what it said was an initiative put forward by Hemedti to end the fighting in the region. A political source in the movement said the decision was intended to make room for social mediation and prevent the conflict from escalating again after the SPLM-N had retaken Kauda. For some in the Otoro, however, the initiative was seen as an attempt by the RSF to intervene in a dispute that is specific to the Nuba Mountains in order to expand its influence in the region, particularly amid objections from some tribal groups to the SPLM-N leadership’s alliance with the RSF on the battlefield, and in the Tasis government in western Sudan, an Otoro member told Mada Masr. Within hours of the announcement, Otoro fighters accused SPLM-N forces of shelling their positions around Kauda with artillery, according to a second Otoro member. The source said the shelling effectively brought the ceasefire to an end. The SPLM-N denied the claim. A political source informed of the contacts between the two sides said the truce had been fragile from the outset, with SPLM-N and Otoro forces still deployed in the same area and no clear arrangements for separating the forces or determining where they would withdraw. The unresolved military presence around Kauda soon reversed the movement’s gains. Between August 21 and 24, Otoro fighters returned to parts of the town, according to the former military source, taking advantage of the SPLM-N’s redistribution of forces and the relocation of some headquarters outside Kauda. The fighters moved toward the town from areas in Heiban locality, the source said, drawing on their continued presence in the wider area to retake positions they had lost on August 18. A current SPLM-N military source said movement forces remained in parts of Kauda and that the developments did not amount to a complete withdrawal from the town. The four Otoro fighters likewise said SPLM-N forces remained positioned inside Kauda even as Otoro fighters returned to other areas, leaving the town as it was under overlapping control rather than a clear, stable control of either side. The recent fighting and the RSF leadership interference have begun to change the nature of the Otoro’s demands, a tribal leader informed of the discussions among Otoro groups told Mada Masr. The dispute started years earlier over the SPLM-N’s efforts to redraw administrative boundaries in areas under its control and redefine tribal landholdings across the Nuba Mountains. In recent months, the Otoro’s demands had expanded from opposition to encroachment on their ancestral lands to include greater representation in the movement’s civilian and military institutions. But after the latest round of fighting, the tribal leader said, some segments of the tribe were increasingly framing the dispute as a question of the movement’s leadership itself and its management of the Nuba Mountains, culminating in calls for Hilu to leave his position. By August 24 and 25, some Otoro groups were moving toward an approach that would take the dispute beyond direct negotiations with the movement’s leadership. A second Otoro tribal leader said some were seeking to build a broader alliance across the Nuba Mountains through the Nuba Mountains Liberation Council, an existing political and organizational framework inside the movement tasked with representing the region’s constituent communities. The council, they said, could bring together social, military and political forces that believe the region’s administration requires broader representation than the circle around Hilu. The aim is to shift the debate from the Otoro issue alone to the future of political power in the Nuba Mountains, they added. The former SPLM-N military source said the demand for Hilu’s departure represents the most difficult stage of the crisis so far. Land boundaries can be negotiated, as can arrangements for representation within the movement’s institutions, the source said. But changing the leadership would open a much broader debate over the movement’s political and military structure, its leadership council and institutions built over decades of war and self-rule in the Nuba Mountains. The Otoro tribe’s ability to gain the upper hand in Kauda, even temporarily, has also given them greater leverage, the source said, because of the town’s symbolic importance as the center of the movement’s political legitimacy. A political source close to the SPLM-N leadership said the call for Hilu’s removal represented an attempt to alter the movement from outside its established institutions. The source warned that allowing local constituencies to use force to effect leadership changes could create a precedent that would further undermine the movement’s internal cohesion. *** US proposes nationwide arms embargo on Sudan in Security Council US Senior Advisor on Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos gives a statement at a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan, August 24. Courtesy: UN Web TV The UN Security Council met on Monday for an open briefing on Sudan — a session that turned into a diplomatic showdown over a US proposal to expand the arms embargo currently imposed on Darfur to cover all of Sudan. US Senior Advisor on Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos presented the draft resolution, having first raised the idea at a Security Council session in June. The proposal builds on a sanctions regime established by the council under Resolution 1591 in 2005, which imposed an arms embargo on parties to the Darfur conflict alongside individual measures including travel bans and asset freezes. The regime is due to expire on September 12 unless it is renewed or amended. Denmark, which holds the council presidency this August, had requested the meeting to discuss the protection of civilians and the humanitarian consequences of the war. Senior UN officials told the council that the escalation in the war has deepened the humanitarian crisis and raised concerns over further mass atrocities and the risk of wider regional spillover. Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, said drones used by both warring parties have repeatedly struck markets, schools, fuel stations and water infrastructure. The UN has recorded 1,400 civilian deaths in the first half of the year, with more than 1,100 attributed to drone strikes, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the council. Boulos used the figures on drone casualties to make the case for the US proposal, saying drone strikes by both sides continued to hit civilians and civilian infrastructure. The draft would extend the existing Darfur arms embargo to all of Sudan and explicitly include drones and their associated systems and technologies, while expanding the Sudan sanctions panel and strengthening its cooperation with sanctions teams in the region to track the networks supplying and financing the warring parties. Boulos said the measure was intended to address the reality of the current war, particularly the outside military support that has helped prolong the fighting, and to push the parties toward a political track. The proposed steps, he said, were not designed to tilt the military balance toward either side, but to apply pressure on both simultaneously. “Nor do these measures seek to create or imply equivalence among the conflict parties beyond the fact that all must pursue peace and bear the burdens of accountability,” he said. Boulos nevertheless said “the brutality of the war waged by the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces has discredited their claims to be legitimate governors of the Sudanese people.” France and the UK supported extending the arms embargo across Sudan, while Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called for the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction to cover the entire country. Sudan’s permanent representative to the UN Al-Harith Idriss during the meeting, August 24. Courtesy: UN Web TV Sudan rejected the US proposal outright. Al-Harith Idriss, Sudan’s permanent representative to the UN, said extending the embargo nationwide would amount to equating “the state institutions and the rebel militia” by subjecting them to the same restrictions. He described the proposal as an attack on Sudan’s sovereignty and said it ignored the “legal differences between the parties.” Idriss said Sudan supported a “technical extension” of the existing sanctions regime, but not the broader change proposed by Washington. He called instead for the council to focus on enforcing the current measures and strengthening monitoring of the external networks supplying weapons and drones to the warring parties. The Sudanese diplomatic stand in New York came as Burhan said in Khartoum that potential sanctions would not alter the military’s position or its ability to continue fighting. Speaking at the graduation ceremony of police officers in the capital on Monday, Burhan insisted, “What is being said about the possibility of imposing sanctions on Sudan will not affect us.” Russia and China, two of the council’s permanent members, also voiced reservations about expanding the sanctions regime. Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya acknowledged the threat posed by drone attacks but rejected what he described as an “equal responsibility” between the warring parties, arguing that the RSF was deliberately targeting civilians and infrastructure while the military was seeking to strike military targets. He also warned that further sanctions against Sudan would add to the economic pressure and ultimately fall on ordinary Sudanese. China’s Fu Cong likewise urged the council to be cautious about expanding sanctions, saying they should be “a means, not an end” and should not substitute for diplomatic efforts. He called for the existing measures to be implemented more effectively and “avoid arbitrary expansion of the severity and scope of the coercive measures, which might harm Sudan’s long-term peace, stability and unity, and disrupt the normal economic and social activities of its people and other countries.” With both Russia and China holding veto power, their opposition puts a significant obstacle in the way of any US-backed resolution to expand the embargo, unless Washington can find a compromise. Monday’s session marked a shift in the international conversation on Sudan, from general calls to end the war and protect civilians toward a search for more direct tools to disrupt the military structures sustaining the war. The UN briefings during the session exposed a widening gap between the pace of diplomatic engagement and the pace of the crisis on the ground, a Sudanese diplomatic source informed of the Security Council’s deliberations told Mada Masr. “The humanitarian catastrophe is moving faster than the international community’s capacity to respond to it,” they said. Continued fighting, drone strikes and the destruction of infrastructure are steadily narrowing civilians’ access to food, water and healthcare, while aid organizations face increasing obstacles in reaching those affected. According to the source, the consequences are likely to outlast the war itself, with lasting damage on Sudan’s economy, infrastructure, demographics and public services. The discussion, however, exposed “a clear split within the council over how to handle the war in Sudan,” the source said. “The disagreement is not just about sanctions,” the source explained, “but extends to how the nature of the war itself, and responsibility for it, is defined, as well as to the balance between protecting civilians and respecting state sovereignty.” With the US, France and Denmark on one side and Sudan, Russia and China on the other, any new move within the council will require understandings among the major powers, especially given the persistent divergence between Washington, Moscow and Beijing, the source said. The session ended without a new binding resolution, but it opened the way for negotiations over whether and how the proposal could advance. “The next battle inside the council will revolve around the language of the resolution, the scope of the embargo and the mechanisms for enforcing it,” the source said. The meeting’s significance lies less in an immediate decision than in the direction of the debate, according to the source. Weapons, foreign backing and drones are becoming more central to the international response to Sudan, as the council considers how to constrain the flows of arms, financing and military technology sustaining the war. That track, the source added, will remain intertwined with parallel efforts to secure a ceasefire, protect civilians and maintain humanitarian access. *** Khartoum prepares for UN General Assembly Sudan is preparing to use the UN General Assembly in New York in September to consolidate a post-Khartoum political posture, with the government looking beyond the immediate management of the war toward the political and institutional order it wants to shape itself in a post-war period, according to diplomatic, government and political sources informed of the preparations. Burhan is expected to lead the delegation, but his inclusion is complicated by US sanctions, prompting the government to consider senior officials who could represent Sudan without constraining the bilateral and regional diplomacy it hopes to pursue on the sidelines. A government committee working on UN affairs has been consolidating Sudan’s position ahead of the meetings, with officials seeking to present a single line on the war and state sovereignty, relations with the UN, the government’s proposed internal political dialogue and the transition from humanitarian response to reconstruction, a Sudanese diplomatic source informed of preparations told Mada Masr. On the war, Khartoum plans to reassert its longstanding position that political negotiations must follow security arrangements, including the RSF’s withdrawal from civilian areas. The government also intends to push for international pressure on parties supporting the RSF with weapons and financing, framing the war as a question of preserving the state and its institutions, according to a Foreign Ministry source and a political source. The Foreign Ministry source expects scrutiny over aid access, civilian protection and humanitarian corridors, but said Khartoum is preparing to tie its position to sovereignty and government oversight of international operations. At the same time, officials want to shift the international aid discussion toward reconstruction, the return of displaced people and refugees, rebuilding public services and reviving the economy, a government source said. Two diplomatic sources said Khartoum is reassessing the future relationship with UN agencies and any international arrangements that could be proposed for the post-war period, after the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan was terminated in 2024 The government is also preparing to make its internal political dialogue now being hurried in Khartoum part of its diplomatic pitch in New York, presenting it as a nationally owned process in which international actors would support and facilitate rather than shape its agenda or outcomes. But a political source close to the dialogue file said New York will also test the international response to a dialogue whose current, state-curated formulation is rejected by some civilian forces. Khartoum, the source said, is keen to be seen as broadening participation, even as it keeps its positions on the state, its unity and its institutions firmly off the table. The main complication for now is Burhan’s attendance. Although he is listed provisionally as a General Assembly speaker, the US Treasury sanctioned him in January 2025. A Foreign Ministry source stressed that the sanctions do not amount to a UN travel ban, but acknowledged that his entry into the US and his participation in bilateral meetings on the sidelines would require US legal and diplomatic arrangements. That has put alternative representation on the table. Two political sources informed of the preparations said Prime Minister Kamel Idris or Foreign Minister Mohie Eddin Salem could lead the delegation if Burhan cannot attend. The choice is about diplomatic utility: Burhan would give the Sudanese position greater political weight, while a delegation led by Idris or another senior official could conduct bilateral meetings without making the sanctions issue the defining feature of the visit. Regional diplomacy will run alongside the General Assembly agenda, with planned contacts involving Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, African states and other actors involved in the Sudan file, a diplomatic source said. Those meetings would fit in a broader effort by Khartoum to rebuild its external relationships and expand its room for maneuver beyond traditional mediation channels. *** Political forces reject Khartoum dialogue Meeting of Sudanese political and civilian forces in Addis Ababa, August 23. Courtesy: The National Umma Party on Facebook Sudanese political and civilian forces opposed to the war rejected Burhan’s call for an internal dialogue, arguing that a political process launched while fighting continues and control of the country remains divided would reflect the wartime balance of power rather than help end the war. The collective rejection came at the conclusion of consultative meetings in Addis Ababa on Saturday and Sunday involving the Declaration of Principles Forces, the Sumud coalition, the National Umma Party, civil society organizations, women’s and youth networks and independent public figures. Representatives of the Islamist Popular Congress Party also took part. Mohamed al-Fekki, a leading figure in Sumud, told Mada Masr that the proposed dialogue would not end the war and could instead produce new political alignments that deepen fragmentation. “This is not a negotiating position or an attempt to raise the ceiling of demands. We are not at the stage of negotiating with the Port Sudan authority,” he said. The proposed dialogue, he added, treats the crisis as a separate political problem, while a settlement requires bringing civilian and armed actors into a process built first around ending the war. Fekki stressed that a dialogue held under the control of the military authorities running the venue faces fundamental questions over independence. Sumud has instead proposed a framework that links three tracks: ending the war, addressing the humanitarian crisis and pursuing a political process, he said. That political process should include Sudan’s main civilian constituencies, including anti-war forces and civilians aligned with either the military or the RSF, while excluding the former ruling National Congress Party and the Islamist current, he added. Sumud, however, has been in discussion with Saudi officials over a possible political role. A source in the coalition told Mada Masr in July that the Saudis have stepped up consultations to explore a political formula capable of bridging the gap between civilian forces and the military. The discussions, according to the source, have centered on designing a transition that the armed forces could accept while preserving civilian participation in governing the post-war period. Last week, Burhan offered temporary immunity to participants in the dialogue, including suspending criminal proceedings against those facing charges while taking part. The measure is meant to clear a legal hurdle for several Sumud leaders, including its head former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who were charged over what the military saw as their proximity to the RSF during the coalition’s earlier iteration as part of the Civil Front for Democracy. According to a political source informed of the positions of the civilian forces, the central problem with Burhan’s invitation is its timing. Fighting continues in Kordofan, Darfur and elsewhere, while territorial control is divided among the military, the RSF, armed movements and local forces. The opposing civilian groups fear that any political process launched before addressing those realities would end up negotiating the consequences of the war rather than addressing its causes, the source said. A political source close to the government said the rejection by Sumud and its allies does not mean the initiative has failed. According to the source, Burhan has offered “broad guarantees on participation, protection and political freedoms,” while leaving a “national mechanism” to determine the participants and agenda. The source added that the government is betting that other political and social forces can still be brought into the process. *** Subscribe to our Lens on Sudan newsletter here.The post Sudan Nashra: Military strikes RSF convoy inside Chadian territory, sparks regional concerns | Kauda fighting pushes Otoro groups to demand Hilu’s removal from SPLM-N leadership | US proposes nationwide arms embargo on Sudan in Security Council first appeared on Mada Masr.
