Profile of Sudanese leader Burhan as army retakes palace and central bank in Khartoum

Record ID: 1985018

  • Title: Profile of Sudanese leader Burhan as army retakes palace and central bank in Khartoum
  • Date: 17th April 2023
  • Summary: DECEMBER 2022 Sudan's political parties and military signed a framework deal on December 5, 2022, that they said would pave the way for two-year civilian-led transition towards elections and end a sometimes violent standoff triggered by a coup in October 2021. KHARTOUM, SUDAN (FILE - DECEMBER 5, 2022) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** BURHAN ENTERING HAL
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Abdalla Hamdok Abu Dhabi Atbara Burhan Egypt Eid Ethiopia Hemedti Israel Juba Khartoum Libya Macron Military Coup Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo Omar al-Bashir Omdurman Politics Port Sudan Qatar Ramadan Rapid Support Forces Russia Saudi Arabia Sergei Lavrov Sisi South Sudan Sovereign Council Sudan United Arab Emirates
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: Sudan
  • Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA00D533815042023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Sudanese army seized full control of the presidential palace in downtown Khartoum on Friday (March 21), it said in a statement, in what would be a major gain in a two-year-old conflict with a rival armed group that has threatened to partition the country.
    The army had long been on the back foot but has recently made gains and has retaken territory from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the center of the country.
    As Sudan’s devastating war pushes into its second year in April, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan remains locked in a deadly power struggle with his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
    Once a career soldier who served former president Omar al-Bashir for decades, Burhan has become Sudan's de facto leader amid a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
    In February 2025, Burhan's government made changes to the transitional constitution to cement the army's control, removing references to civilians and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), two government sources said.
    The move followed U.S. sanctions announced in January accusing him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
    The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that under Burhan's leadership, the army's war tactics have included indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, attacks on schools, markets and hospitals, and extrajudicial executions.
    The conflict between the army and the RSF has splintered Sudan, caused a massive humanitarian crisis and drawn in regional powers. Diplomatic efforts to resolve it have stalled.
    Fighting erupted on April 15, 2019 between army units loyal to Burhan, head of Sudan's transitional governing Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Hemedti.
    Burhan rose through the ranks in wars in South Sudan and Sudan's Darfur region before participating in a coup against the Islamist leader al-Bashir following an uprising against his 30-year rule.
    The general, in his early 60s, then placed himself at the heart of his country's political and economic crisis by becoming Sudan's de facto leader, entering a fragile power-sharing deal with civilians that put Sudan on a three-year path to democracy.
    In Bashir's final years in power, Burhan had begun developing 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.
    Burhan cultivated Gulf support by helping supply soldiers to a Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen.
    In March 2021, he received Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Khartoum.
    Later he was at the forefront of tentative moves to normalise ties with Israel, meeting then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda in a surprise move in February, 2020.
    On Oct. 2021 Burhan dissolved the government and arrested top civilians, throwing the transition into turmoil.
    On Nov. 2021 he swore himself in as head of a new ruling council, shrugging off domestic and international pressure to reverse the takeover.
    Burhan became the latest in a long line of military coup leaders who have ruled Sudan for most of its history since independence from Britain in 1956.
    Critics say Burhan's actions reflect disdain for street protests and civilian politicians, as well as a pragmatic recognition that his junta lacks a political base inside Sudan.
    In response, Burhan has said the army had no choice but to sideline politicians whom he accused of inciting Sudanese against the military.
    He denied accusations by rights groups that the army was responsible for killing protesters and insisted its takeover, including the removal of civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, was not a coup.
    Military chief Burhan controls heavy weapons and the armed forces, but his soldiers are up against Hemedti's skilled irregular force that may number, analysts says, 100,000 or more paramilitary fighters.
    They have already proved a tricky opponent.
    When bases have come under attack they have melted away into residential areas where heavy armour and conventional military tactics lose their advantage.
    Both men now battle, predominantly in the capital, trying to deliver the killer blow in their power struggle.
    Instead they may deliver a protracted conflict and more instability.
    After decades of autocracy, military rule and international isolation - Sudan is in danger of seeing its prospects for peace and economic revival go up in smoke.
    (Production: Dina Sakr, Zainab Elhaj, Lisa Giles-Keddie)
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