A Message to U.S. President Donald Trump

By Hassan Al-Basir

Like many other Sudanese people, I received with profound dismay what was issued by your administration as an arrogant treatment that infringes upon the sovereignty of an entire state—namely, the withholding of a visa for the Chairman of Sudan's Sovereignty Council and the attempt to impose humiliating conditions on his entry into the United States to participate in the United Nations meetings, as though the United Nations platform had become Washington's private property, granting access to whomever it wishes and denying it to whomever it wishes.

We say this clearly to President Trump: Sudan is not a marginal country that can be blackmailed. It is not a backyard for the UAE or Israel, nor is it an arena for the diplomatic brokerage led by your envoy, Massad Boulos. Sudan is the navel of Africa, the heart of the Middle East, and the guardian of the Red Sea. Its history predates all of your deals.

Your administration has failed to understand the nature of the Sudanese people. We are a people who do not kneel and do not bargain away our dignity. If Iran possesses strategic cards that compel you to respect it despite your hostility toward it, then Sudan possesses even greater cards: the will of a people who have rallied around their army, and an army that has rallied around its commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. That commander said "no" to the agents and "you shall not pass" to the mercenaries, and told the world that Sudan will not be governed by proxy.

We know very well the purpose behind what you call pressure—accusations of chemical-weapons use, fabricated stories about terrorism and our relationship with Iran, threats of invoking Chapter VII, and the imposition of a no-fly zone. They are the same scare tactics used by the UAE to justify its war against us after losing its money in supporting the terrorist Dagalo family militia. This war has been substantiated, according to the report of the Panel of Experts and the report of the Fact-Finding Mission, which condemned your direct support for the militia with weapons and mercenaries from Colombia, Chad, and Libya.

Mr. President Trump, Burhan's rejection of your humiliating conditions did not surprise us; rather, it made us even prouder of him. He is a son of the long-established military institution, the commander of the Battle for Dignity, and a symbol of national unity. The people's rallying around him today is a genuine referendum and a renewed pledge, declaring that Sudan stands with its army, and the army stands with its people.

Know that every attempt to subjugate us will encounter a solid wall of popular rejection, supported by our brothers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who understand that any harm to Sudan is a threat to the security of the entire region. We will not surrender our sovereignty, nor will we accept having our country run from the backrooms of diplomatic brokerage in Washington and Abu Dhabi.