Noé Michalon, Eiad Husham
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is struggling to bring to fruition the military aid projects initiated with his Gulf partners. Personal disagreements and the persistent presence of Islamists among his supporters are undermining the Sudanese Armed Forces commander’s legitimacy. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s government based in Port Sudan will have to wait. According to several diplomatic sources, the draft military supply contract for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) with Pakistan, facilitated by Saudi Arabia, has been brought to a halt. This $1.5bn agreement has been in the pipeline for several months and was intended to supply the Sudanese regular army with weapons, including JF-17 fighter jets, drones, and air defence systems. In early February, the international press described it as nearly a done deal but it has been put on hold partly because of the ongoing climate of mistrust between Riyadh and Port Sudan, while the war against Iran may also have complicated the situation – as Saudi Arabia was targeted by Iranian drone attacks. Other reasons, which were not specified, could also have played a role. A similar project for a contract, intended for Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan forces, has also been suspended. The Saudi authorities have expressed a degree of disappointment with the SAF and their leader, who seem not to be fulfilling their promises on the military and political fronts. Riyadh is now openly pushing for the future establishment of a civilian government to head Sudan, as it has a hard time seeing the Sudanese army as a long-term partner. This position has thus fueled reciprocal distrust from the SAF, who now doubt their allies’ willingness to support them further in the conflict. As a gesture of good faith Port Sudan’s difficulties in shaking off the radical Islamists allied with the SAF is also irritating some allies, notably Egypt, which has nevertheless strengthened its technical support to the regular Sudanese army on the battlefield (AI, 03/26/13). As a gesture of good faith, Burhan secured, on 15 March, the arrest of Enagi Abdullah – the leader of the Islamist militia Popular Resistance, comrade-in-arms of the SAF – following his pro-Iran statements, despite Tehran’s long-standing support for the SAF. As negotiations are carried on between the Quartet countries (United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates) and other Western chancelleries ahead of the Berlin conference on 15 April, Washington also continues to demand that radical Islamists be strictly excluded from the army. Lastly, relations with Turkey, another SAF supporter, are delicate. The army chief moved his family, who were residing in Turkey, to Qatar after the death of his son Mohammed Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in 2024 in a road accident, the circumstances of which remain unclear. Al-Burhan is nevertheless striving to maintain good relations with Ankara, an important supplier of attack drones for his army: on 11 March he spoke on the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express his support after Iranian drones were shot down over Anatolian territory.
