The New Arab:
The head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, arrived today, Thursday, in the Qatari capital, Doha, on an official visit, during which he will discuss ways to stop the war in his country, in his third foreign visit since the outbreak of the war, in mid-April.
Upon his arrival at the airport, Al-Burhan was received by the Minister of State in the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi.
And last week, Al-Burhan visited Egypt, which was his first foreign stop after the clashes in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces led by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hamidti), and he also visited South Sudan, on Monday.
The official spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majid Al-Ansari, had said, in the media briefing, the day before yesterday, Tuesday, that “the President of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, is touring a number of countries, and Qatar will be one of his stations,” adding that “the Qatari-Sudanese relations have always been characterized by constant communication.” Visits of this kind are not surprising.
At the same time, Al-Ansari denied knowing “about a request for mediation that was or will be directed to Qatar,” but he renewed Qatar’s position calling for an end to the war and the shooting in Sudan.
A delegation from the Forces for Freedom and Change (the Central Council group) had met with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, last Thursday.
The delegation reviewed with the Qatari Prime Minister the latest developments in Sudan, and discussed ways to stop the war and restore peace in Sudan. According to a statement from the Media Committee of the Forces for Freedom and Change, the coalition delegation expressed its thanks for the efforts of the State of Qatar and its standing by the Sudanese people and its humanitarian and diplomatic endeavors to besiege the ongoing war in Sudan and its repercussions.
Since mid-April, the army and the Rapid Support Forces have been engaged in clashes that a series of truces have not succeeded in stopping, amid an exchange of accusations between the two sides about violating the truce and starting the fighting.
The war resulted in the death of about 5,000 people, according to the non-governmental organization “Aclide”. However, the actual outcome appears to be greater because many regions of the country are completely isolated, and it is not possible to bury many of the bodies scattered in the streets, and both sides refuse to report their losses.
In four months, more than 4.6 million people were forced to flee, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which confirmed that “more than 700 children are displaced by the war every hour that passes.”
