Sudan's Abdel Fattah Al Burhan said on Saturday that the country would not yield to “pressure or blackmail,” after the US withheld his visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.
Sudan's Sovereign Council Chairperson Abdel Fattah Al Burhan said on Saturday that the country would not yield to “pressure or blackmail,” after the US withheld his visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.
Burhan was addressing young people at Khartoum Stadium during the launch of the “We Have Not Forgotten You” initiative to support the health sector. Content creators and athletes took part, according to a statement.
“Sudan will not respond to any pressure or blackmail, and its voice will remain loud,” he said.
“We will keep our heads high. We will not accept bargaining, sell ourselves cheaply to anyone or bow to anyone,” Burhan added, saying the Sudanese people could not be intimidated.
Country 'in safe hands': Burhan
He praised the young people behind the initiative, saying their efforts showed the country was “in safe hands” and would “bow to no one.”
“Everyone stands together for the country. We will raise Sudan’s flag and its name high,” he said.
Burhan said his main objective was to defeat the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting the army since April 2023. “Our goal is to clear all of Sudan, including Darfur, of this security threat,” he said.
“We do not need a visa to any country or anyone’s permission,” he added, in an apparent reference to the dispute about his travel to the General Assembly.
National sovereignty
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern that the visa had not been issued to Burhan.
Separately, Sudan’s government rejected a September 22, 2026 US State Department statement that said neither the Sudanese Armed Forces nor the RSF and their leaders represented legitimate, constitutional governance for the country.
Khartoum reaffirmed its commitment to national sovereignty and urged Washington to engage with it positively.
The civil war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions, and led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
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