Burhan rules out negotiations in public while Sudan files comments on the American 90-day truce
The National reports that Khartoum did not reject Washington’s humanitarian ceasefire proposal but submitted observations on it — six days after the army chief said the war would continue until the RSF is defeated.
Speaking at Amri in Northern State on 6 October, Sovereign Council chairman Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the army would fight on until it defeated the Rapid Support Forces across Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile, remarks reported by Sudan Tribune and Al Jazeera. On 11 October The National reported something different in kind: that Sudan has said it did not reject the United States' 90-day humanitarian ceasefire proposal but submitted comments on it. The same piece carried allegations from a former member of Sudan’s ruling council that Burhan made significant concessions at his 5 October encounter with US senior adviser Massad Boulos in Egypt and is using the war to remain in power — allegations attributed to named individuals whose full identification THE FILES has not been able to confirm, and which the army has not addressed.
Even the encounter itself is contested. Boulos attended a luncheon hosted by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at New Alamein on 4 October on the margins of the African Union mid-year coordination meeting, with Burhan present; Reuters called it a rare publicly announced meeting. Al-Monitor reported that a senior official in Sudan’s military-led government described it as a “casual encounter” at which the two held no talks, and Boulos’s own post on X did not describe bilateral discussions. Boulos said afterwards: “We ... reaffirm the United States' continued efforts, alongside our Egyptian partners and our other regional and international partners and allies, to advance a political solution to the crisis.” The meeting followed Washington’s decision to withhold a visa for Burhan ahead of the UN General Assembly, per The National.
Washington’s leverage is meanwhile being trimmed. On 8 October the Security Council voted unanimously to extend the existing Darfur-only arms embargo for two months, until 11 December, after the United States withdrew its own proposal — tabled by Boulos in August — to expand the embargo nationwide and extend sanctions to all armed groups and their external backers. China and Russia opposed expansion, as did the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and other elected members. “This extension is not a lapse in our resolve,” Boulos said, per The National, adding that “external military support to the warring parties must end.” Resolution 2828 of 11 September renewed the Panel of Experts mandate only to 9 November, the next hard date on the Council calendar.
Assessment: Two tracks are running at different speeds and they are not meant to meet. A public refusal keeps the army’s base and its Islamist allies in line; technical comments on a text keep Washington and the Quad engaged and the sanctions file manageable. Neither commits anyone to stopping. The arms-embargo climbdown is the measurable event of the week: the United States tabled a nationwide embargo in August, failed to carry Beijing and Moscow, and bought eight weeks instead. Until the Panel of Experts mandate is renewed on 9 November, the enforcement apparatus for any ceasefire is the part of this that is actually expiring.