Sudan's Abdel Fattah Al Burhan visits Qatar on third foreign trip in two weeks

Army chief's Doha trip follows visits to Egypt and South Sudan

Qatar's Minister of State Mohammed Al Khulaifi, right, receives Sudan's army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan in Doha. AFP / Qatar News Agency

This handout picture released by Qatar's Amiri Diwan shows Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani meeting with Sudan's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Doha on September 7, 2023. (Photo by Qatar Amiri Diwan / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / QATAR AMIRI DIWAN" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Sheikh Tamim speaks with Gen Al Burhan. AFP / Qatar Amiri Diwan

Sheikh Tamim and Gen Al Burhan meet in the Qatari capital. Reuters

Mr Al Khulaifi greets the Sudanese army chief during his visit to Doha. AFP / Qatar News Agency

Sudan's military leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan visited Qatar on Thursday, his third foreign trip in the past two weeks after trips to South Sudan this week and Egypt late last month.

In Doha, Gen Al Burhan received a red carpet welcome and discussed "the latest developments in the situation and challenges facing Sudan" with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim, the Qatari royal court said.

He left Doha on Thursday afternoon, the official Qatar News Agency said.

Gen Al Burhan appears to be trying to rally regional support at a time when the army is locked in a war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Qatar has been among Sudan's chief backers and investors, pouring billions of dollars into the vast Afro-Arab states over the years. Qatar has also assumed a mediating role to end the civil war in Sudan's western Darfur region in the 2000s.

The war, centred in Khartoum and Darfur, has created a major humanitarian crisis, with more than five million people displaced.

His foreign trips also lend Gen Al Burhan international legitimacy at a time when the RSF and its commander, Gen Mohamed Dagalo, are coming under growing scrutiny for possible war crimes and large-scale looting in Khartoum and Darfur.

Gen Al Burhan's trip to Qatar was announced hours after he issued a decree dissolving the RSF, a move that could negatively affect peace negotiations.