Burhan Publishes Foreign Policy Op-Ed Setting Out Terms for Ending the War: Unified Army, No Parity for RSF

Sovereignty Council chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan published an op-ed in Foreign Policy on September 23, 2026, titled 'How to Bring Peace to Sudan,' arguing that previous externally led ceasefire efforts failed because they only temporarily silenced the guns without preventing fighting from resuming once international attention moved on. He called for an internally driven settlement built around a permanent ceasefire, consolidation of arms under a single 'unified national army' rather than parallel forces, and a Sudanese-led political dialogue producing a new constitution and elections. Burhan explicitly rejected granting the RSF political parity with the state, writing that Sudan's government and the RSF 'do not stand on equal footing, either morally or legally' since his government represents the legitimate authority of a UN member state while the RSF is 'a paramilitary group.' Coinciding with the UN General Assembly, he outlined measures he wants international backing for, including support for a permanent-ceasefire plan he said Sudan submitted to the Security Council and cutting off funding and supply lines reaching the RSF. The op-ed followed the US decision to withhold Burhan's UN visa over his rejection of a 90-day ceasefire proposal a day earlier.