Al-Burhan orders end to withholding identity documents from Sudanese opponents
Published: 17/Dec/2025
Source: Sudan Tribune
December 17, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan’s Sovereign Council Chairman and Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Wednesday ordered authorities to stop withholding identity documents from citizens, including oppenents facing legal proceedings.
Since the conflict began on April 15, 2023, activists and political figures have reported that some embassies refused to issue travel documents. These restrictions have also affected journalists and individuals from communities perceived as supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and anti-war groups.
“We do not wish to deprive any Sudanese citizen of their identification papers,” al-Burhan said at the opening of a national ID centre, attended by the ministers of interior, justice, and finance.
He directed the Ministry of Justice and the Public Prosecutor’s Office to ensure that individuals with open criminal cases are not barred from obtaining passports, nationality certificates, or national ID cards. “This is a right that no one shall prevent,” he said, adding that “crimes should not be a reason to deprive a person of identification documents.”
The directive follows a similar instruction issued by al-Burhan on Feb. 8. At that time, the head of the Passport and Immigration Department, Osman Mohamed al-Hassan Dinkawi, said implementation would require amending laws and regulations governing travel bans. This would allow citizens to hold passports for identification purposes while remaining barred from exiting the country at official border points.
In 2020, the government of then-Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok amended regulations to prevent those on ban lists from obtaining passports, classifying the document strictly for travel rather than identification. Before that change, citizens could obtain passports for ID purposes even if they were prohibited from travelling.
Al-Burhan called for the immediate amendment of regulations that block access to identity papers, stating that the legal mechanisms for revoking nationality or passports are clearly defined in existing law.
Under Sudan’s Constitutional Declaration, amending these laws requires a joint meeting of the Sovereign Council and the Council of Ministers, which exercises legislative powers in the absence of a transitional parliament.
Read original: https://sudantribune.com/article/308316