US envoy Massad Boulos has been swept into a wave of online hostility triggered this week by unusually direct attacks from the leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The escalation began when Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan accused Mr Boulos of acting as “an obstacle to peace” and said the wider Quad group – the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt – had become “biased”.
Senior SAF figures and political allies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, echoed the criticism, accusing the envoy of trying to “force Sudan into submission” and “misrepresenting the army’s position”. The remarks were among the sharpest levelled at a US official since the war began in 2023.
The criticism quickly spread online. SAF-aligned influencers and accounts amplified claims that Mr Boulos was biased towards the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
One English-language Sudanese account on X wrote: “Massad Boulos is not a mediator. He is part of the problem. Burhan was right.” Another said that “Boulos keeps repeating lies to make the RSF look reasonable. We reject any plan designed outside Sudan".
Several high-profile Sudanese accounts accused the envoy of “engineering an RSF victory”, portraying his mediation efforts as part of a “Western agenda” aimed at weakening the state.
The rhetoric also spilled into satire. Sudan’s victory over Lebanon in a football match on Wednesday became a viral trend on X, with users joking that the team played harder after being told Mr Boulos is of Lebanese origin. “When the players heard the US envoy is Lebanese, they scored immediately,” one post read. Another said Sudan had “defeated Massad Boulos’s team".
The political pressure extended to the government level. Acting Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem said on Wednesday that no external party had the right to dictate negotiations to Sudan, insisting peace must be reached “by Sudan’s own will”. He argued that previous agreements reached under the Jeddah platform had been undermined by the RSF’s failure to comply.
Twin fronts
After his intense criticism, which triggered the online campaign targeting the US envoy, Gen Al Burhan quickly moderated his tone. In an opinion article published in The Wall Street Journal, he appealed to US President Donald Trump to help bring an end to the conflict.
But his appeal may ring hollow as he continues to insist there is no room for a ceasefire until the RSF is completely defeated. Gen Yasser Al Atta, a senior member of the Sovereign Council and one of the SAF’s most influential commanders, was quoted in Sudanese media on Wednesday as saying his army would continue fighting “until Judgment Day”.
The RSF, meanwhile, has declared a unilateral three-month ceasefire. Mr Boulos said on Tuesday that the SAF had introduced new conditions to the US plan, while the RSF had not yet formally accepted the proposal in its current form.
The envoy was in Abu Dhabi this week to discuss regional conflicts and the Sudan file as part of the Quad’s broader effort to reach an immediate three-month humanitarian ceasefire. Senior UAE official Dr Anwar Gargash welcomed the renewed US engagement, praising President Trump’s “personal involvement” in efforts to prevent further fragmentation in Sudan.
The backlash also heightened with a strong US statement issued after Gen Al Burhan’s attack on Mr Boulos, repeating accusations against SAF of using chemical weapons. “The Government of Sudan must immediately acknowledge its violations, cease any further use of chemical weapons, and fully co-operate with international investigators,” the State Department said.
The twin fronts, official denunciations from the SAF leadership and a rapidly multiplying online campaign, have turned Mr Boulos into a lightning rod for Sudan’s political frustrations.
