Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council Meets with Police Leadership to Discuss Security and Passport Services

The Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met today with General Khalid Hassan Mohi Al-Din, Director-General of the Sudanese Police Forces, in the presence of General Othman Mohamed Al-Hassan Dinkawi, Director of the General Administration of Passports and Immigration.

The meeting focused on the overall security situation in the country, the efforts of the police forces to enhance stability, combat crime, and fully restore services in areas liberated from militias. Discussions also covered the operations of the General Administration of Passports and Immigration.

In a press statement, General Othman Mohamed Al-Hassan Dinkawi reaffirmed that the Passports and Immigration Administration operates with full professionalism in issuing travel documents and all legal identification papers while strictly adhering to laws and regulations.

He highlighted the administration’s ongoing efforts to provide citizens with official documents despite the ongoing conflict, noting its presence across multiple states and Sudanese embassies abroad. He also mentioned that specialized teams had been deployed to issue passports.

Passport Services Restored in Key Cities

General Dinkawi confirmed that passport and identification services had been successfully restored in secure states and several cities, including El Obeid, En Nahud, and El Fasher.

Addressing concerns over passport issuance, the Director of Passports and Immigration clarified that every Sudanese citizen with a national identification number has the right to obtain a passport, regardless of political affiliation—unless a legal travel ban has been imposed by the relevant authorities.

He further explained that before 2020, a legal travel ban did not prevent citizens from obtaining a passport, as it was considered an identification document both inside and outside the country. However, in 2020, under the government of former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, a regulatory amendment stipulated that individuals on the banned list could no longer be issued passports, as they were classified as travel documents rather than identification papers.

Calls for Legal Amendments

General Dinkawi emphasized that if the current restrictions on passport issuance were to be reconsidered, a legal amendment would be required to allow Sudanese citizens to obtain official identification documents, including passports, while restricting their ability to travel at designated checkpoints.