Sudan’s top military officer, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has plans to travel to Qatar in the near future as part of a tour around the region, as confirmed by the spokesperson for Doha’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.
The United Nations issued a cautionary statement about the current peak in humanitarian requirements in Sudan, with a staggering 24.7 million individuals requiring aid and safeguarding.
“Al-Burhan is on a tour to a number of countries and Qatar is among his destinations,” the Gulf state’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Dr. Majed Al Ansari said.
According to sources from Sudan mentioned in a separate report by regarding Dr. Al Ansari’s comments, it is expected that Burhan will arrive in Doha on Thursday.
While Qatar has contributed with various humanitarian initiatives since the beginning of the war, Dr. Al Ansari said he was unaware of any mediation requests.
“Qatari-Sudanese relations have always been characterised by continuous communication, and visits of this kind are not surprising,” Dr. Al Ansari told the press, renewing Doha’s support for a ceasefire in Khartoum.
Last month, Burhan travelled to Egypt to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on his first foreign trip since the war broke out. Discussions at the time were centred on developments on the ground in Sudan.
Burhan’s expected trip to Qatar was reported shortly after a group from Sudan’s Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) finished a six-day visit to the Gulf nation.
During their visit, the Sudanese delegation had meetings with high-ranking Qatari officials, including Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
As per the FFC’s official statement, Qatar had allegedly shown its willingness to assist in the reconstruction of Sudan and reaffirmed its backing for any initiatives aimed at putting an end to the deadly conflict.
The FFC also travelled to Egypt in July for peace talks that gathered Sudan’s neighbouring countries-Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Libya – where the participating parties agreed on a new Egyptian-led initiative.