Sudan's Burhan Rejects US Truce Conditions, Visa Denial

Sudan's leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has rejected international pressure and a US entry visa over the weekend, defying Washington's push to tie his travel to an unconditional three-month truce. The comments were Burhan's first public response to Washington withholding his visa to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York. US officials had linked the visa to an agreement on a ceasefire proposal presented by Massad Boulos, senior adviser on Arab affairs to the US president. Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn "We will not backtrack on what we said: we do not want a visa to any country, nor do we want their permission, nor do we want anything," Burhan told a crowd of sports figures and content creators at Khartoum Stadium. "We will stay here with you until we die here in this country," he said. Sudan's army has been locked in a devastating war since April 2023 with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), creating the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis. Burhan ruled out compromises or concessions, saying the Sudanese people could not be blackmailed or intimidated. "Our goal is to eliminate this militia, no matter the cost," Burhan said, referring to the RSF. "Our goal is to cleanse Sudan all the way to Darfur. We will not let them go; we will reach them wherever they entered, place by place." Sudan's permanent representative to the UN, Al-Harith Idriss, had previously asked the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to intervene with US authorities over the visa delay. UN officials said they had raised the matter with Washington, and Guterres voiced serious concern over the non-issuance. Under the 1947 UN "headquarters agreement," the US is generally required to allow access to the world body for foreign diplomats, but Washington has historically denied or restricted visas to foreign leaders on national security and foreign policy grounds. Burhan commended military forces fighting on the front lines, as well as youth supporting the war effort on social media, and promised that the military leadership would not back down from its campaign to defeat the paramilitary group. Army resumes air strikes The Sudanese army said on Sunday it had shot down a long-range drone operated by the RSF in North Kordofan, while warplanes carried out air strikes on at least three sites in the South Darfur capital of Nyala. Over the past 10 days, military air defences have intercepted approximately eight Chinese-made FH-95 drones across several regions, according to military sources. Four of the aircraft were brought down in North Kordofan's al-Kukiti and Tinna districts, three in Blue Nile region, and one on Saturday near Kalamendo, southeast of the North Darfur capital of el-Fasher, the sources said. In an official statement, an army spokesperson said air defences intercepted a hostile FH-95 drone on Sunday morning west of Tinna. The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The reported downings point to upgraded air defence capabilities to counter long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, which had repeatedly stalled army ground operations across front lines in Kordofan. Over the past two weeks, a major army offensive pushed RSF fighters out of multiple areas in North Kordofan, including the strategic hub of Sodari, which links Kordofan and Darfur. The paramilitary force withdrew westward toward al-Mazroub, Hamrat al-Sheikh, and Um Badr along the Darfur boundary. Separately, residents and witnesses in Nyala said military aircraft resumed strikes on the city on Sunday afternoon, ending a prolonged pause in jet activity across Darfur. Warplanes dropped munitions across central, southern, and northern districts of Nyala, triggering heavy explosions and sending columns of smoke over the city, the sources said. Casualties could not be immediately determined. The army had largely halted crewed air operations over Darfur in February 2025 after the RSF deployed air defence systems that bro