Sudan: Failed Assassination Attempt On the Head of the Transitional Government, General Burhan

Khartoum — On the same day that the news of the assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was released, another high-impact news story risks going unnoticed: the attempted assassination (albeit unsuccessful) of a prominent political leader. This is General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, leader of the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and president of the transitional government, who this morning, July 31, escaped a drone attack on the Gebeit military base in eastern Sudan. General Burhan had just attended the graduation ceremony of military cadets when two drones attacked the base. The head of the SAF was unharmed, but five people lost their lives.

In a written statement, the SAF reported that “our anti-aircraft missiles shot down two enemy drones targeting the graduation ceremony of our military, air and naval forces in Gebeit.”

The Gebeit military base is located about 100 kilometers from Port Sudan, the de facto capital of the army. Since April 15, 2023, General Burhan has been engaged in a bloody conflict pitting the SAF against the paramilitary militias of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo (see Fides, 17/4/2023).

So far, the RSF has not claimed responsibility for the attack on Burhan, although it has attack drones. The failed assassination attempt on the SAF chief, who is also president of the transitional government, comes a day after the military-aligned Foreign Ministry accepted with reservations a US invitation for talks in Switzerland in August. The RSF responded by stating that it would negotiate only with the military and not with the Islamists, who constitute a major part of the government headed by Burhan.

A curious coincidence is that the failed assassination of Burhan occurred the day after the Sudanese embassy in Tehran was reopened on July 30, after eight years of diplomatic ties between Sudan and Iran. The breaking of diplomatic relations was decided by Khartoum in 2016, following the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran by protesters. The decision was taken by then-President Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in a coup in 2019.

In October 2023, the Sudanese transitional government announced that it would restore relations with Iran. Since then, both countries have exchanged ambassadors and agreed to reopen their respective embassies.