While fighting flare in Khartoum, Sudan’s Burhan attends negotiations in Uganda

On Saturday, Yoweri Museveni, the experienced president of Uganda, and Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the de facto leader of Sudan, discussed his most recent diplomatic venture abroad.

On what was reportedly a one-day working visit, the Sudanese general was seen meeting with Museveni at State House in the Ugandan city of Entebbe.

In a brief statement, the Ugandan presidency stated that “they discussed bilateral and regional issues.”

Since fighting broke out in April between Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Burhan’s former deputy and now opponent, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan has been at war.

Residents claimed on Saturday that after a brief two-week reprieve, clashes near Khartoum’s military headquarters, where Burhan had been holed up until last month, had flared up once more, with the RSF pelting it with artillery fire.

Eyewitnesses on the ground said AFP they heard fighting in the centre of Khartoum, and one local claimed the RSF was “firing heavy artillery” towards the army headquarters.

Burhan has travelled six times since late August from his new base in the Red Sea beach city of Port Sudan, in what analysts believe is a diplomatic effort to bolster his reputation in the event that discussions to end the crisis take place.

His first trip was to Egypt, which was followed by trips to South Sudan, Qatar, Eritrea, Turkey, and now Uganda.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project’s cautious estimate places the death toll from the conflict since it began on April 15 at least 7,500.

According to statistics from the UN, more than five million people have been displaced by the war, including a million who have crossed international borders.

The army is in control of the skies, and Dagalo’s fighters have ensconced themselves in residential neighbourhoods, such that neither side has been able to gain the upper hand in the battle.

As the army attempts to regain control of some areas of the capital, witnesses have seen an increase in the intensity of airstrikes and, as a result, the number of civilian deaths.

Since the longtime despot Omar Al-Bashir was overthrown in 2019, when Burhan was designated president of the Sovereign Council of military and civilian officials tasked with guiding the transition to a fully fledged democracy, Burhan has served as Sudan’s de facto leader.