Sudan’s army chief and de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump to help bring an end to Sudan’s devastating civil war, which has raged since April 2023.
In an op-ed published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, Burhan said Sudanese citizens “now look to Washington” for decisive action, urging Trump to work with Sudan and regional partners “who genuinely seek peace” to halt the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The appeal comes after Trump, for the first time, signalled interest in intervening in Sudan’s war last week, following a push from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Burhan wrote that many Sudanese view Trump as “a leader who speaks directly and acts decisively” and believe he has the resolve to confront foreign actors allegedly fuelling the violence.
Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti), have been locked in a brutal power struggle that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 12 million people, and triggered the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis. Multiple peace efforts—led by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt—have repeatedly collapsed, with both sides accused of obstructing negotiations.
In his 1,200-word article, Burhan described the war as a battle “between a sovereign state trying to protect its citizens and a genocidal militia bent on destroying communities.” The U.S. formally declared in January that the RSF had committed genocide in Darfur. However, Burhan’s own forces have also been accused of indiscriminate attacks on civilians since the conflict began.
Burhan avoided naming the United Arab Emirates in the op-ed, though he has frequently accused the UAE of supporting the RSF—allegations the Gulf nation consistently denies.
The conflict between Burhan and Daglo, once close allies who jointly toppled Sudan’s civilian-led transitional government in 2021, exploded on April 15, 2023. Burhan wrote that he “long recognised that the RSF was a powder keg,” referencing the group’s roots as a militia deployed by Khartoum to fight in Sudan’s peripheral conflicts before rising to political prominence.
Despite international mediation and growing global concern, the war remains unresolved, with no clear path to peace yet in sight.
