Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan is a Sudanese soldier born in 1960, and progressed in various military positions until he became the supervisor of the Sudanese military forces, which came to light with the overthrow of ousted President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, as he assumed the presidency of the military council and then the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, and became the first man in the Sudanese government since August 2021.

Birth and upbringing

Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan was born in 1960 in the village of Qandto in River Nile State, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and the village - most of whose inhabitants belong to the Shayqia tribe - is about 173 kilometers from Khartoum, and the historical city of Shendi is the closest city to it.

His father is Al-Burhan Abdul Rahman Al-Burhan, and his mother Safia Al-Siddiq traces her lineage back to Sheikh Ali Al-Hafyan, one of the Sufi sheikhs in Sudan, while his grandfather is Abdul Rahman Al-Burhan, who is buried in the city of Al-Eidj in central Sudan, and his grave is also one of the Sufi shrines.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has seven brothers and two sisters, and he also has half-brothers and sisters from his father's second wife.

Burhan comes from a devout Muslim family in the Khatmiyya order, one of Sudan's Sufi orders.

Al-Burhan married Fatima Suleiman, has three children (two sons and a girl), and lived the last years before the 3 revolution against Bashir, moving between Yemen and the UAE.

Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan was seconded to training courses in Egypt and Jordan (Al-Jazeera)

Study and scientific training

Al-Burhan studied the primary and preparatory stages in the schools of his village, and then moved to the city of Shendi near the village to complete his secondary education, then joined the Sudanese Military Academy among the officers of the 31st batch and graduated there, and was seconded to training courses in Egypt and Jordan until 2018.

Political and military experience

After graduating from the Military Academy, he worked in the Sudanese capital, moving between the units of the Sudanese army, and also worked with the border guard forces for a long time, then a military attaché in China, and then appointed commander of the border guard forces, then progressed to become deputy chief of staff of ground forces operations, and then became its president.

He fought military battles with the army during the southern war before the secession of South Sudan in 2011, and he also fought many operations during his work as an officer in the infantry corps, and worked as a trainer in military institutes in the eastern region of Jabit.

Al-Bashir promoted him from the rank of lieutenant general to lieutenant general on February 26, 2018, appointed him inspector general of the army, and offered him the position of governor of one of the Sudanese states, but he refused.

Functions and responsibilities

Al-Burhan was included in military positions and held several positions, the most important of which are:

  • Supervise Sudanese forces in Yemen in coordination with Mohamed Hamdan Hemedti since 2015.
  • Commander of the Sudanese Land Forces in 2018.
  • Chief of Staff of the Sudanese Army.
  • Al-Bashir appointed him inspector general of the armed forces on February 27, 2018.
  • He assumed the presidency of the Transitional Military Council after the resignation of Defense Minister Lieutenant General Awad Ibn Auf in April 2019.
  • He has chaired the Sudanese Sovereignty Council since 2021.

His role in political life in Sudan

Burhan came under the spotlight as he took over the leadership of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) after Omar al-Bashir was ousted by the military following months of nationwide demonstrations.

He was sworn in on 12 April 2019 as head of the military council that ruled Sudan after al-Bashir's ouster, after General Awad Ibn Auf abdicated the presidency of the council due to street pressure less than 24 hours after he took office.

Burhan thus became Sudan's de facto president in its transitional phase, and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti) was appointed as his deputy.

The massacre of the dispersal of the sit-in of the General Command in Sudan

After the overthrow of the Bashir regime and the assumption of power by the military council in the country, the demonstrators remained in the sit-in squares insisting on civilian rule of the country and rejecting military rule.

Military forces, in cooperation with the Rapid Support Forces, attacked the sit-in tents on June 2019, 128, in an attempt to disperse the sit-in by force, and the attack led to the death of dozens of protesters, and the number was said to have reached <> dead, in addition to hundreds of wounded and missing.

Opponents accused the military forces of trying to "hide their crime by throwing bodies into the Nile, but the matter was revealed and the bodies were extracted from the river."

A committee was formed to investigate this incident, but it was unable to hand over its findings to the competent authorities.

Political sources in Sudan say that al-Burhan's measures in October 2021 halted the work of the committee after he "overthrew" the government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Formation of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council

In August 2019, after the protest movement, street violence, and negotiations with the civil movement led by the Coalition of Freedom and Change Forces, the SCAF signed an agreement with the coalition called the Constitutional Document.

It was agreed in the "constitutional document" that there would be a transitional period in which the rule of Sudan would be entrusted to what was known as the "Sudanese Sovereignty Council", a council consisting of 11 people, 5 civilians and 5 military personnel selected by the transitional council, provided that the Sudanese Sovereignty Council would be led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Al-Burhan was sworn in before the Judicial Council on 21 August 2019 and appointed Abdalla Hamdok as prime minister in August 2019.

"Coup" against Abdalla Hamdok's government

Burhan's opponents say he "led a coup" to overthrow Abdalla Hamdok's government on October 25, 2021 with the declaration of a state of emergency, the dissolution of Sudan's Sovereignty Council and the transitional government, and the military arrested Hamdok, most members of the government, and a number of officials and media workers.

The streets were filled with demonstrations and protests demanding the rejection of negotiation, partnership, and the military government until a political agreement was reached between Burhan and Hamdok in an inclusive national initiative signed by parties from political and social forces in November 2021.

The agreement stipulated the return of Abdalla Hamdok's government, activating the partnership and working together between the civil and military sides to complete the transitional period and form a national government of technocrats.

The dispute between Burhan and Hemedti

Since October 2021, signs of disagreement and rivalry have begun to appear between Burhan and Hemedti, as both of them began to seek regional and international support, especially Hemedti, who tried to distance himself from the "coup" and suffice with supporting the Sudanese street and its demands.

After the army and some civilian forces signed a political framework agreement aimed at establishing a 24-month transitional period in December 2022, al-Burhan denied the existence of any external dictates regarding the agreement, but Hemedti said at the time that what he called the "coup" was a political mistake and led to further divisions, and stressed the importance of the framework agreement for the transition towards democracy.

The agreement provided for a two-year transitional period ending with the handover of power to civilians and the formation of a transitional government in July 2023.

The agreement opened the door to widening the dispute between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, as Burhan announced that the removal of the army from political life and the formation of a civilian government are contingent on the implementation of all the terms of the framework agreement, the most important of which is the integration of the Rapid Support Forces and the unification of the military institution.

Although Hemedti signed and approved the agreement, his opponents accuse him of "obstructing all steps to implement it", in particular the move to integrate his forces into the army.

In an attempt to contain the dispute, the "Security and Military Reform" workshop was held in Sudan under the auspices of the Quartet of America, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in March 2023, and ended without final recommendations, especially on the issue of integrating the Rapid Support Forces.

The dispute erupted again in April 2023 over the timeline for the integration of the RSF, the assumption of the position of commander-in-chief of the army during the merger period, and the place of RSF officers in the future hierarchy of the army.

This dispute led to the military confrontation that began with the stationing of the Rapid Support Forces in the northern Sudanese city of Meroe, near the city's airport on April 13, 2023, so the regular army forces strengthened their presence in the area and the confrontation flared up in the cities of Sudan as a result.