SUDAN’S top military officer visited Egypt today and held talks with its leader, authorities said.

This was General Abdel-Fattah Burhan’s first trip abroad since the country plunged into a bitter conflict this year and came a day after he rejected a peace plan put forward by the leader of the opposing paramilitary group.

General Burhan, chairman of the country’s ruling Sovereign Council, arrived in the Mediterranean city of el-Alamein and was received at the airport by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, the council said.

The two leaders discussed efforts to end the conflict in Sudan in a way that preserves “the sovereignty [and] integrity of the Sudanese state,” an Egyptian statement said. 

Sudan plunged into chaos on April 15 when fighting broke out between the military, led by General Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

The conflict has turned the capital Khartoum into an urban battlefield, with the RSF controlling vast swathes of the city. 

The military command, where General Burhan has reportedly been stationed since April, has been one of the epicentres of the conflict.

In his trip to Egypt, General Burhan was accompanied by Acting Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq.

The visit to Egypt came hours after the unveiling of a peace plan by General Dagalo on Monday, including the idea of a “federal system” that would represent Sudan’s regional, cultural and ethnic diversity after elections to form a civilian government.

He also proposed a new, apolitical and unified Sudanese army built from merging existing forces.

But the general’s proposals were dismissed by General Burhan late on Monday. 

He said: “We do not make deals with traitors, we do not make deals with anyone who has betrayed the Sudanese people.”

The United Nations says at least 4,000 people have been killed in the fighting and more than 4.6 million people have been displaced internally or outside their borders to neighbouring countries such as Egypt.