Sudan’s top general heads to South Sudan for talks with its president on the war

Sudan’s top military general is headed to South Sudan to talk to its president on his second trip abroad since the war in his country started in April

Sudan’s top military general is headed to South Sudan to talk with its president on his second trip abroad since the war in his country started earlier this year.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, chairman of the ruling Sovereign Council, will discuss the conflict in Sudan with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, according to a statement from the council.

In April, simmering tensions between the military, led by Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital and elsewhere.

The conflict has turned Khartoum into an urban battlefield, with the RSF controlling vast swaths of the city. The military command, where Burhan has purportedly been stationed since April, has been one of the epicenters of the conflict.

In his trip to Juba, Burhan is accompanied by acting Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq and Gen. Ahmed Ibrahim Mufadel, head of the General Intelligence Authority, and other military officers, according to the Sovereign Council.

The Sudanese leader met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt last week in the Egyptian coastal city of el-Alamein. It was his first trip abroad since the war. Both Egypt and South Sudan are neighbors to Sudan.