A broad coalition of Sudanese anti-war political and civil forces has formally rejected an initiative launched by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue, declaring they will neither participate in the process nor recognize its outcomes while presenting an alternative roadmap anchored on three concurrent tracks.
The decisive rejection was issued at the conclusion of high-stakes consultative meetings held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on August 22–23. The multi-day gathering drew a diverse array of stakeholders unaligned with the warring parties, including the Sudanese Declaration of Principles forces, the Popular Congress Party, the National Umma Party, civil society organizations, women’s and youth networks, independent public figures, and academic leaders.
Prominent figures attending the summit included former Prime Minister and head of the Sumood Coalition Abdalla Hamdok, Sudan Liberation Movement leader Abdel Wahid al-Nur, Umma Party leader Mubarak al-Fadel, and Baath party senior member Wajedi Saleh, who convened to assess the deepening humanitarian catastrophe across Sudan, strategize on halting the multi-year conflict, and chart a course back to a democratic civilian transition. In a joint position paper released after the meetings, the coalition outlined critical reasons for dismissing al-Burhan’s call, characterizing the army chief’s proposal as a unilateral initiative operating exclusively within territories under single-party control and heavily dictated by the security apparatus.
The alliance warned that engaging with such a process would legitimize the ongoing realities of the war and entrench the de facto partition of Sudan into separate zones of military control, while arguing that the initiative serves as a political smokescreen meant to perpetuate the military rule established by the October 25, 2021 coup and create a dangerous backdoor for the return of the dissolved National Congress Party and the Islamic Movement. Furthermore, the Addis Ababa gathering criticized the unilaterally appointed preparatory committee for lacking national legitimacy, noting that the framework deliberately decouples political talks from an immediate ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian aid delivery, and accountability for ongoing atrocities
. Proposing a viable path forward, the anti-war coalition called for a genuine peace process based on equal negotiations monitored under an agreed-upon, independent international umbrella, resting on three integrated and concurrent tracks consisting of an urgent humanitarian track for unhindered aid, a permanent ceasefire track, and an exclusively civilian political track structured to resolve root structural issues. These root issues include comprehensive governance reform, equal citizenship rights, the establishment of a unified and professional national army, the complete dismantling of former regime remnants, and robust transitional justice. The document meticulously categorized participants into three main political currents: anti-war forces unaligned with the belligerents, forces aligned with the Sudanese Armed Forces, and forces aligned with the Rapid Support Forces, stipulating that participation by both military factions must be strictly limited to the ceasefire and humanitarian tracks while barring the National Congress Party and its affiliated entities from the political process altogether.
Addressing external diplomacy, the coalition endorsed the Quartet Roadmap issued on September 12, 2025, praising it as the premier framework for peace due to its clear timeline and firm commitment to a civilian-led future, while expressing readiness to engage constructively with the Quintet Mechanism provided that Sudanese ownership of decisions remains protected and international mediation efforts are unified into a single, cohesive track to prevent warring factions from exploiting divisions among mediators.
The summit’s conclusions serve as a direct rebuke to al-Burhan’s August 14 announcement regarding legal, political, and security guarantees intended to facilitate internal dialogue, which the Addis Ababa coalition firmly dismissed as an attempt to impose an unsustainable fait accompli that cannot deliver a lasting and sustainable peace.
