Sudan’s Army Chief Urges for Restoring Membership in AU

KHARTOUM, Xinhua: Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, has stressed that Sudan’s confidence in the African Union (AU), calling for the restoration of Sudan’s full membership in the regional organization.

Al-Burhan made the remarks when he received the delegation of the AU High-Level Panel on the Resolution of the Conflict in Sudan, led by Mohamed Ibn Chambas, in Port Sudan, the capital city of the Red Sea state, the sovereign council said in a statement.

“Al-Burhan expressed Sudan’s confidence in the African Union and the solutions it could offer, provided that Sudan deals with the organization as a full member,” the statement said.

Al-Burhan further stressed that the basis of the solution lies in the withdrawal of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from the cities and villages they occupied.

For his part, Ibn Chambas stressed the need to stop the conflict and achieve stability for Sudan and its people, according to the statement.

He pointed to the AU high-level panel’s keenness and endeavor to find solutions to the crisis, noting that the panel listened to all Sudanese political forces.

On Jan. 17, the AU announced the formation of a High-Level Panel on the Resolution of the Conflict in Sudan. The panel consists of three African figures, including Ibn Chambas as chairman, besides Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe, former vice president of the Republic of Uganda, and Francisco Madeira, former special representative of the chairperson of the Commission to Somalia, as members.

The AU had frozen Sudan’s membership after Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25, 2021, and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the transitional government which was headed by the then Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF since April 15, 2023. More than 13,000 people have been killed since the fighting broke out, according to recent estimates released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. ■