The United States is withholding a visa for Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ahead of his planned appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, according to Sudanese and Western sources who link the holdup to a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal that Khartoum has resisted. The State Department declines to comment on specific visa cases and has not confirmed any on-record quid pro quo.

Burhan, Sudan's de facto leader since 2019 and president of the Transitional Sovereign Council, postponed his New York trip but has not received a formal denial notice, a senior Sudanese source said. Khartoum's diplomats had expected the visa on Tuesday; it did not arrive. Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salem is expected to deliver Sudan's address for this week's General Assembly slot instead. Former civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok is also in New York this week with members of an anti-war coalition.

The impasse is the nadir in U.S.–Sudan relations since war broke out in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The United Nations calls the conflict the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Aid groups estimate more than 200,000 people have been killed; those figures are humanitarian estimates, not a single official census of the dead.

A ceasefire linkage Khartoum rejects

A Sudanese diplomatic source and a Western analyst close to American and Sudanese officials both said U.S. officials made Burhan's attendance contingent on agreeing to a 90-day ceasefire proposed by U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos.

Sudan's army voiced reservations about the Boulos plan in July. "Burhan rejects this take-it-or-leave-it approach, any proposal is subject to suggestions and changes," the Sudanese diplomatic source said. A senior Sudanese source separately voiced "deep regret," calling the visa stance "a violation of the UN Convention and international law" while affirming Khartoum's "stance towards peace." In a Foreign Policy essay published Monday, Burhan said he would refuse external directives about the war and argued that previous pauses in fighting had mainly allowed the RSF and its backers to regroup.

Sources said Burhan is unlikely to engage further with Boulos's mediation efforts if the visa is not granted.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, has set up a rival government that has struggled to gain international legitimacy. In a speech sending soldiers off to battle, Dagalo said, "It's time for the rifles to speak."

Letter to Guterres and UN concern

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith, wrote to Secretary-General António Guterres on September 21 seeking "immediate intervention" with U.S. authorities under the Headquarters Agreement that governs access to the world body in New York.

"Should this situation persist, it would effectively prevent the Head of State of a Member State of the United Nations from participating in person in the work of the General Assembly," the letter said.

The African Union suspended Sudan after the 2021 coup Burhan led with Hemedti against civilian leadership. Burhan has spoken at the General Assembly on Sudan's behalf in the years since.

U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Guterres is "deeply concerned that a visa has reportedly not yet been issued to the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of the Sudan," and that the United Nations is engaging the United States so the TSC president can participate in person. Under the headquarters hosting arrangement, Washington is not supposed to deny such visas, though it has blocked entry for other leaders in the past, including the head of the Palestinian Authority.

Quad diplomacy and a Darfur embargo fight

Washington has tried to mediate through a "Quad" format that also includes the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia — the outside powers seen as most influential in Sudan.

A separate flashpoint is arms controls. The U.N. Security Council on September 11 adopted Resolution 2828, a one-month technical rollover of existing Darfur embargo and sanctions measures that kept the door open for talks on expanding the regime after the Council could not settle a longer or nationwide rewrite. The United States has pushed that nationwide expansion, a step Burhan's backers say would disproportionately punish the army.

Raise the cost on all belligerents

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the United States and President Donald Trump "stand ready to work with anyone who is a serious partner for peace in Sudan." Neither the Sudanese Armed Forces nor the Rapid Support Forces — nor their leaders — "represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan," he said.

"They rule through force of arms alone," Pigott said. "The conduct of each leader of the warring factions renders them ineligible to govern the country. We seek to restore peace and give power back to the Sudanese people."

He said neither side had made serious commitments to an immediate truce and that both had redoubled combat operations and drone strikes that kill civilians. Washington, he said, has repeatedly asked the parties to accept a humanitarian truce without preconditions and to commit to an inclusive political dialogue leading to a civilian transition. "In the meantime, we will seek to raise the cost of continued conflict on all belligerents and the networks which fuel the conflict."