Sudan Nashra: Burhan rejects outcomes of Manama talks | Khartoum engulfed in battle | Sudanese-Algerian rapprochement

Leading news coming out of Sudan this week is reporting that the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have held secret talks in the Bahrani capital of Manama throughout January. 

The revelation stands in stark contrast to the military’s public-facing rhetoric since it faced a string of embarrassing defeats in central Sudan over the last two months, in the wake of which many of its generals have avowed hardline refusals of negotiation with the RSF. 

According to military sources informed of the meetings, the most prominent demand from the RSF was for Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” to be reinstated to his position as deputy chair of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, a position he was dismissed from after fighting broke out in April 2023. 

It is not clear yet how the military institution sees the talks, but military sources told Mada Masr that Burhan rejected the outcome of the talks while keeping open the possibility of indirect talks going forward. 

On the battlefield, the Sudanese military continues to advance to the west in the city of Omdurman, extending out from its military stronghold in an attempt to link its forces in the north and south of the city. 

This week, Bahri — the largest RSF stronghold in Khartoum in terms of range and troop numbers — erupted in fierce fighting, returning to the forefront of military operations.

Despite some ground battles in the vicinity of the Armored Corps base in southern Khartoum and the continuation of mutual artillery shelling, the city is currently experiencing relative calm. 

In the west of the country, the Sudanese Air Force has been carrying out a bombing campaign on a number of sites and RSF strongholds, according to a military source who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity. The source added that the RSF’s losses in the battles of Babanusa have prompted the militia to retreat from the city. 

In the North Darfur State, military sources have reported clashes between the joint forces aligned with the military and the RSF north of Fasher.

On January 28, Sudanese Commander-in-Chief and head of the Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan held talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during his most recent regional tour. Burhan’s deputy commander also held secret talks with an RSF delegation in the Bahraini capital, Manama. However, military sources told Mada Masr that Burhan rejected the meeting’s outcomes. 

Upon his return from Algeria, Burhan visited several military garrisons in the states of Kassala and Sennar, emphasizing the need for the continuation of the fighting and demanding that any political talks take place within the country. The Civil Front for Democracy confirmed its readiness to meet with Burhan soon after, urging him to schedule the date for their meeting. 

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Secret talks in Manama 

Despite adopting an increasingly bellicose rhetoric in public after its recent string of defeats, the Sudanese military continues to operate under the principle of "talk and fight," according to a source in the Sovereignty Council, referring to a series of direct meetings between the Sudanese military and the RSF in Bahrain this month, the first such contact between the two warring sides since the war broke out in April of last year. 

The source, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, said the recent meetings in Manama were carried out between Deputy Armed Forces Commander Shams Eddin al-Kabashi and a delegation from the RSF — the source did not say who was leading the RSF delegation. Sources told Reuters that the RSF delegation was led by General Abdelrahim Dagalo, a brother of RSF commander Hemedti.

The source added that the talks in Manama served as a reaffirmation of the military leadership’s determination to reach arrangements to end the war in a manner that safeguards the nation’s security and takes into account the interests of the Sudanese people. The source emphasized that these discussions do not contradict the military’s current measures on the battlefield, where they have vowed to eradicate the paramilitary force that has challenged the Sudanese Armed Forces’ legitimacy. 

The source added that Kabashi’s meetings with the RSF delegation were attended by officials from Egypt's General Intelligence Service and the US Central Intelligence Agency, as well as delegations from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. 

The meetings, held in Manama from mid-to-late January, discussed the resumption of the Jeddah talks, which, the source said, are set to recommence in early February.

According to military sources informed of the meetings, the RSF provided a number of conditions to bring an end to the war, the most prominent of which was the reinstatement of Hemedti, as deputy chair of the Transitional Sovereignty Council. Additionally, they sought the release of Hemedti’s assets.

However, it is not clear whether the momentum of the meetings will carry over, given the friction within the military over negotiating with the RSF, as exemplified by several other military sources telling Mada Masr that Burhan firmly rejected the outcomes of the Manama meetings. 

The military sources maintained that the discussions are primarily focused on the implementation of the outcomes of the Jeddah Declaration and that indirect talks remain a possibility, in accordance with the provisions agreed upon by the two parties in the Jeddah Declaration signed on May 11. 

A source at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry told Mada Masr that resuming the Jeddah talks is contingent upon the RSF’s position and their commitment to withdrawing from civilian homes, which the military has consistently held as a precondition for talks.

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Burhan visits Algeria 

While Hemedti has been in the regional limelight in recent weeks, making tours throughout the Horn of Africa to sit with top leaders as the “representative of Sudanese military forces,” Burhan left Sudan for Algeria at the beginning of this week to resume his own official foreign visits. In the capital, Algiers, he held private talks with Tebboune at the Algerian presidential palace. 

According to informed sources in the Sovereignty Council who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, the talks touched on a number of topics, including Sudan’s position in the United Nations Security Council and its stance in the African Union, the measures it would take toward states supporting the RSF, as well as Algeria's contributions to regional initiatives proposed by African institutions. 

Burhan’s delegation consisted of the foreign minister and leaders from Sudan’s General Intelligence Service and defense industry. 

The visit also comprised a series of diplomatic and security meetings that focused on Algeria's role in supporting Sudan diplomatically in international and regional institutions, according to the sources.

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Burhan demands all talks take place within Sudan

On the domestic political front, Burhan’s potential meeting with the Civil Front for Democracy hasn’t moved beyond statements circulated by both sides. 

Speaking to his troops in the 44th Halfa Brigade on Tuesday in Kassala State, Burhan stated that talks will exclusively be held in Sudan and rejected any negotiations that insult the Sudanese people or undermine their unity. 

After Kassala, Burhan visited Sennar State on January 30, where he inspected the military’s defenses within the state. Sennar borders Gezira State, whose capital, Wad Madani, was captured by the RSF on December 18, along with large parts of the state. 

Regarding internal political talks, Civil Front for Democracy leader Jaafar Hassan, emphasized the organization’s readiness to meet with Burhan and welcomed his statement about a potential sitdown with their delegation in Port Sudan. 

Tweeting from his X account, Hassan regarded Burhan's statement as a step forward and urged him to set a date for the meeting as soon as possible “because time is not on anyone’s side.”

Meanwhile, a source in the Civil Front for Democracy, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, said that a delegation from the movement arrived in Juba on January 31 to meet with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir. Former Prime Minister and Head of the Civil Front for Democracy Abdalla Hamdok didn’t attend due to health issues.

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Sudan renews accusations against the UAE 

Sudan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Al-Harith Idriss accused the RSF of receiving artillery, heavy weapons and drones with the assistance of the UAE and Chad. Idriss indicated that the Sudanese military is currently working against a multilateral aggression from regional countries, including the UAE, as was spelled out in the recent UN Sudan Panel of Experts report. 

The UN report referred to the UAE's supply of weapons to the RSF via the Um Jaras airport in Chad. The report also drew attention to the RSF’s widespread violations in Darfur against unarmed civilians. 

However, Ibrahim Mukhair, a member of the RSF commander’s advisory office, denied Idriss’ accusations about the UAE and Chad’s supply of weapons to the paramilitary group. Speaking to Mada Masr, Mukhair called the accusations arbitrary and a desperate attempt to smear and blackmail the two, rather than serve as an earnest effort to stop the war. 

Mukhair said that the RSF has seized immense quantities of weapons from the Sudanese military’s warehouses in the cities of Khartoum, Nyala and Wad Madani. This, in addition to their capture of the Yarmouk Munitions Factory in southern Khartoum, leaves the RSF without any need to secure weapons from another party, Mukhair added.

On the political front, Mukhair reiterated the RSF’s adherence to the Jeddah talks in order to reach a truce that would allow the entry of humanitarian supplies to alleviate the suffering of Sudanese citizens throughout the country. Highlighting the RSF’s commitment to finding a political, military and humanitarian resolution to the war, Mukhair said that it was the RSF was the first to pledge it would sit for talks in Jeddah and the military only agreed to attend later.  He added that the RSF delegation has not left the Saudi city, noting their continuous calls for the unification of negotiating platforms in Jeddah. 

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Intensified military clashes in the capital, ground operation commences 

The Sudanese military launched the largest attack on the RSF to date in the city of Bahri, one of the three cities that make up the capital. The attack was carried out across three axes, resulting in casualties among the RSF. 

The most intense fighting took place at the Halfaya Bridge which connects Omdurman with Bahri, where the military employed drones and military warplanes, in addition to heavy artillery, according to a field source in the military's Armored Corps who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

According to military sources, the objective of these battles is to sever any military supply route between the Gaili Oil Refinery in northern Khartoum and RSF strongholds in Bahri. 

The source added that the Sudanese military is seeking to target any position that the RSF are likely to use in their attack on the city of Omdurman. Another military field source in Bahri reported that the RSF has previously struck the base in Wadi Sidna from the banks of the Nile in Bahri. 

Other battles took place in the vicinity of the Signal Corps, the strategic Sudanese military site responsible for securing the General Command headquarters and the Blue Nile Bridge, which connects Bahri to Khartoum and serves as its sole supply line for weapons, ammunition and food. 

The confrontations have also extended to eastern Bahri, where the military pursued the RSF in the Hattab area. Hattab is connected by a supply line with the Kafuri area, where RSF field commanders are stationed at the Gaili refinery. 

A source at the Hattab military camp said that Sudanese forces managed to cut off the Gaili refinery area, as well as old Bahri and Kafuri, from any RSF supply lines. 

According to a military source in the River Nile State, north of the capital Khartoum, the armed forces advanced from the Maaqil military base in southern areas of the state toward the Gaili refinery, the perimeter of which was cleared of any RSF defenses. 

The source added that the military is now gradually launching a ground offensive toward Khartoum from all sides, especially from the north and northeast, in order to prevent any supply from or infiltration to states located to the north of Khartoum. 

In the Shajara military area south of Khartoum, the Armored Corps repelled three RSF attacks this week, destroying combat equipment and weapons previously employed by the militia in their attack on the Armored Corps camp. The Armored Corps is anticipating an RSF attack on its camp, a source at the base told Mada Masr.

As for the city of Omdurman, where the military has been advancing at a steady pace for several weeks and has taken control of several additional areas in the center, Sudanese Armed Forces troops are closing in on linking the north of the city to its south, while the RSF continues to retreat. The military has initiated a siege on the RSF troops stationed at the radio and television headquarters overlooking Nile Street.

This week witnessed fierce battles as the military advanced from Wadi Sidna in the north and the Engineers Corps in the south. The military aims to cut off supply lines to RSF strongholds in the city center. Meanwhile, the distance between Sudanese Armed Forces troops in the two camps is now cut down to just a few hundred meters.

Speaking to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, a field source at the Wadi Sidna military base said that the military is on the verge of seizing full control of old Omdurman, including the radio and television buildings, after surrounding them from all directions.

According to the source, the military has already taken over key civilian sites that the RSF had been using for military purposes, including buildings, towers and strategically located commercial sites used by the RSF to store weapons. The source added that the military will attempt to recapture all areas of Omdurman as it advances in other axes. 

Since the partial destruction of the Shambat Bridge in November, which connects the cities of Omdurman and Bahri, the military’s standing in the former has gradually improved, leading to significant progress in recent weeks. 

The now-destroyed Shambat Bridge, for which the military and the RSF have traded blame, served as the main supply line for the paramilitary group from western Sudan, connecting its forces to the three cities of the capital, Khartoum.  

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Renewed fighting in western Sudan

Fighting began anew in western Sudan, where the North Darfur State witnessed clashes between the military-aligned armed movements and the RSF. The clashes had begun to converge in the Malit area in northern Fasher on January 28.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a military source affiliated with the joint force in North Darfur told Mada Masr that, with Chad under pressure to halt its military support to the RSF, the paramilitary group is seeking to reopen supply routes from Libya after the joint forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces cut off its supply lines from Um Jaras.

On Thursday, heavy armed clashes erupted once again in northern Fasher, lasting for several hours. 

North Darfur is the only one of the five states that make up the Darfur region that is not under the RSF’s control. The militia had seized control of the other Darfuri states between October and November of last year. 

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Military mobilization in states of Gadarif, Sennar

The Sudanese military has begun mobilizing its forces in the states of Gadarif and Sennar, along with the joint forces of Darfur’s military-aligned armed movements, in order to launch a preemptive attack on the RSF in Wad Madani and secure the two states.

The armed movements have intensified their military deployment from Fasher to the rest of Sudan via the Fasher-Deba road, reaching eastern and northern states.

According to a source in the military-aligned joint forces, the military and the armed movements will launch a large-scale offensive on areas adjacent to Khartoum in order to impose a complete siege on the RSF.

As for the city of Babanusa in the West Kordofan State, the military managed to gain control of the city after repelling three waves of attacks last week. According to a military source in Babanusa, the Sudanese Armed Forces managed to destroy dozens of RSF combat vehicles and killed around 800 of the group’s fighters.

However, the source added that the military anticipates further attacks on the city. Babanusa has witnessed the displacement of almost 50,000 citizens to the east, in Fula and Ghubeish, according to a source working in a humanitarian initiative.