- Title: Profile of Sudan's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
- Date: 17th April 2023
- Summary: KHARTOUM, SUDAN (FILE - DECEMBER 4, 2021) (REUTERS) REUTERS JOURNALISTS GREETING GENERAL ABDEL FATTAH AL-BURHAN AHEAD OF INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF NEW TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL, GENERAL ABDEL FATTAH AL-BURHAN, SAYING: "When a government is elected, the armed forces and all organised security groups, I believe, will have no participation in political matters. This i
- Embargoed: 1st May 2023 11:37
- Keywords: Burhan Military Coup Politics Sudan
- Location: KHARTOUM, QADARIF, AL-FASHQA REGION AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, SUDAN / ABU DHABI, UAE / CAIRO, EGYPT
- City: KHARTOUM, QADARIF, AL-FASHQA REGION AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, SUDAN / ABU DHABI, UAE / CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Sudan
- Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00D533815042023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Fighting erupted on Saturday (April 15) between army units loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan's transitional governing Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is deputy head of the council.
It was the first such outbreak since both joined forces to oust veteran Islamist autocrat Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2019 and was sparked by a disagreement over the integration of the RSF into the military as part of a transition towards civilian rule.
Below are some details about General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
He was little known in public life until taking part in the coup against veteran autocrat Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2019 after a popular uprising against his rule. At the time, he was Sudan's third most senior general and inspector general of the armed forces. A day after the coup, the defence minister stepped down amid protests and named him head of a transitional military council.
In August, 2019, his role as de facto head of state was affirmed when he became head of the Sovereign Council, a body comprising civilian and military leaders that was formed to oversee the transition towards elections.
As head of Sudan's ground forces, he oversaw Sudanese troops who were deployed in 2015 to fight as part of the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemen war. He has close ties to senior Gulf military officials as he was responsible for coordinating Sudan's military involvement in the war.
Following the overthrow of Bashir, an Islamist, Burhan developed good ties with states that have worked against Islamists in the region, notably the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The Gulf states provided Khartoum with significant aid.
The eruption of fighting over the weekend followed rising tensions over the RSF's integration into the military. Discord over the timetable for that has delayed the signing of an internationally-backed agreement with political parties on a transition to democracy after a 2021 military coup.
RSF leader Hemedti, deputy head of state, called military chief Burhan a "criminal" and a "liar."
State television cut its transmission on Sunday afternoon, a move employees said was meant to prevent propaganda broadcasts by the RSF after its forces entered the main state broadcaster building in Omdurman and started to air pro-RSF programming.
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