Photo Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), made a legitimacy dash to Seville in Spain last week, to attend a UN international development summit, the first of its kind in a decade.
Addressing the conference, he made sweeping claims about Sudan’s important steps toward ‘civilian-led democratic transition’, claims that in the context of a humanitarian disaster, his forces’ continuing atrocities against civilians, and his own repeated rejection of peace talks, will have had those who heard him pinch themselves to be sure they were awake.
Some observers felt that Burhan, given the sanctions against him and the SAF’s conduct in the Sudan war, now in its third year. should not have been allowed to participate. Others believe his presence in Spain will have been an opportunity for the international community to apply pressure, Burhan was expected to meet with an envoy from the European Union, which has loudly deplored the conflict and its consequences.
In an April 2025 statement, the Council of the EU described its impact in stark language: “The people of Sudan are facing the most catastrophic humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. Famine has been confirmed and food insecurity is rampant, with almost 25 million people facing acute food insecurity. Sudan is also experiencing the largest protection crisis in the world with 12.6 million people forcibly displaced (more than 3 million across borders). The conflict spilling over into neighbouring countries can cause even greater human suffering and further destabilise the region.”
The Council of the EU statement added: “The EU recognises the resilience and bravery of the Sudanese people amidst the worst humanitarian crisis we see today. It is high time to bring an end to this horrific bloodshed.” The Council of the EU said it would closely coordinate with the international community to “use its diplomatic tools and instruments, including restrictive measures, to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict and a lasting inter Sudanese inclusive political process reflecting the aspirations of the Sudanese people.”
A Brussels-based Sudanese human rights activist said: “It is to be hoped that the EU’s envoy is tough and realistic with Burhan in Spain. There has been a devastating catalogue of SAF attacks against civilians in recent months. I fear they will worsen as the SAF loses further ground. It’s time to bring this conflict to an end, with real, good faith negotiations.”
Recent months have seen another appalling attack on a hospital in Sudan, with more than 40 people killed in an attack which, according to the Sudan Doctors Network and the Emergency Lawyers group, was conducted by the SAF. In May, at least 89 people were killed during an air strike by SAF warplanes targeting a crowded civilian market in Al Koma in North Darfur state. On 2 June, a 15-vehicle United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) convoy was hit in an SAF drone attack near Al Koma, killing five WFP staff. On 10 June, another SAF attack on a school being used as shelter for displaced people in Abu Zabad, West Kordofan, killed eight people. These attacks follow a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that showed the SAF killed scores of civilians in attacks that used unguided air-dropped bombs on residential and commercial neighborhoods in Nyala, South Darfur in early February 2025.
The US imposition of sanctions on the SAF has just come into effect after finding it used chemical weapons last year. The New York Times reported in January 2025 that the SAF had used chemical weapons on at least two occasions in remote areas of its war.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan may misguidedly think that his participation in the Seville conference, for him a rare foray into Europe, signals some form of legitimacy. Not if the photo of him alongside Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia was anything to go by; the royal couple looked as though they had turned to stone.
It is to be hoped that the European Union envoy will have used the opportunity provided by his meeting with Burhan to apply maximum pressure on the General to live up to his responsibility to end Sudan’s unimaginable bloodshed and suffering and come in earnest to the negotiating table.
