Sudan’s top general arrives in South Sudan for talks with its president on the war

SAMY MAGDY

Sudan’s top military general arrived in South Sudan on Monday for talks with its president on his second trip abroad since the war in his country started earlier this year.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, chairman of the ruling Sovereign Council, landed at the airport in South Sudan’s capital and was received by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Both leaders inspected an honor guard and then headed for talks that would focus on the conflict in Sudan, according to the council.

In April, simmering tensions between the military, led by Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital and elsewhere.

The fighting has reduced Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to an urban battlefield, with neither side managing to gain control of the city. The military headquarters, where Burhan has purportedly been stationed since the conflict began, has been one of