Sudan Junta Leader El Burhan Arrives in Turkey

Ankara — The President of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday afternoon, in his fifth foreign visit since his departure from Khartoum.

Journalist Osman Mirghani, editor-in-chief of El Tayyar newspaper, told Radio Dabanga that the main objective of El Burhan’s visit to Turkey was related to the military field, and expected the visit to influence Sudan’s post-war reconstruction efforts.

Mirghani stressed that the visit aims to expand the base of countries supporting Sudan, as it was preceded by visits to several other countries.

Editor-in-chief of Sudanese newspaper El Jazeera, Ashraf Abdelaziz, told Radio Dabanga that El Burhan’s visit to Turkey demonstrates his attempt to establish his legitimacy by representing the Sudanese government, with the intention of seeking support from countries.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Abdelaziz said that El Burhan’s previous visits failed to achieve these goals, “as most countries dealt with him as one of the parties to the conflict rather than the head of state”.

Abdelaziz anticipates a similar outcome this time around. He expects the Turkish visit to generate humanitarian support, albeit without impacting El Burhan’s political prestige or implied recognition of his legitimacy. “This is especially evident in light of the army’s inability to achieve a decisive victory over the Rapid Support Forces”.

El Burhan’s failure to establish legitimacy is exacerbated by his subsequent failure to visit neighbouring countries, including. Ethiopia, Chad, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

Mirghani told Radio Dabanga that, in order to generate positive returns or outputs, planning visits to these countries will require detailed prior arrangements and understandings. He pointed to arrangements with the help of regional countries to influence the situation in Sudan.

Abdelaziz does not rule out future visits, though he also questions the feasibility of scheduling them in the near future.