US denies Sudan’s de facto leader visa for UNGA

The United States has refused to give Sudan’s de facto leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, a visa to travel to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly.

Burhan, whose army has fought the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, was scheduled to address the UN on Wednesday. He has addressed the assembly before, twice since the war broke out.

One diplomatic source told AFP that the United States withholding the visa was a “clear violation of the UN’s agreement with the US”.

Another said the United States, which has repeatedly pushed for Sudan truce talks, had “conditioned the visa on Burhan accepting a three-month truce”, which the government says would only allow the RSF to regroup and attack.

The US State Department, in a statement that did not mention the visa issue, said on Tuesday that neither the army, the RSF, “nor their respective leaders, represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan”.

With both sides rejecting Washington’s call for a humanitarian truce, “we will seek to raise the cost of continued conflict on all belligerents and the networks which fuel the conflict,” said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was “deeply concerned” that the visa had not been issued, his spokesman said.

Stephane Dujarric said: “The secretary-general urges the host country to ensure that visas are issued in accordance with its obligations under the Headquarters Agreement, in time for the President to participate in person in the work of the General Assembly.

“The (UN) Secretariat immediately raised the matter with the United States authorities and continues to engage with them.”

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The agreement establishing New York as the site of the UN headquarters says the United States should not impose any impediments on member state representatives’ travel.

Sudan is presently being represented in New York by Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salem.

The United States has tried, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, to bring Burhan and his former deputy RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo to the negotiating table.

Burhan’s internationally recognised government cemented power in a 2021 coup with Daglo’s support as his right-hand man, but the pair fell out in a power struggle.

Since 2023, their war has killed more than 200,000 people, aid workers estimate, and caused the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.

Washington has similarly refused visas to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, as well as some members of Iran’s delegation to the gathering.