Travel Barriers Cloud UN General Assembly Participation

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the United States to issue a visa to Sudanese Armed Forces chief General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan so that he can attend and address the UN General Assembly in New York. The appeal came after reports that General Al Burhan had not yet received permission to travel to the United States for the annual gathering of world leaders, scheduled to take place during the week of September 22, 2026. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Mr Guterres was “deeply concerned” by the situation. A statement from the Secretary-General’s office urged the US, as host country, to issue the visa in accordance with its obligations under the agreement governing the UN headquarters in New York. The UN Secretariat has reportedly raised the matter directly with US authorities and continues to engage with them. The headquarters agreement establishes responsibilities for the United States regarding access by representatives of UN member states attending official meetings. The UN statement emphasized that the participation of all delegations is essential to the organization’s proper functioning. The US State Department declined to comment on General Al Burhan’s specific visa case. A representative told The National that the department generally does not comment on actions involving individual visa applications. The article does not explain why the visa had not been granted or indicate whether General Al Burhan’s attendance would ultimately be prevented. It focuses instead on the diplomatic and procedural issue, highlighting the tension between the UN’s expectations of its host country and the United States’ policy of not discussing individual visa decisions.

Exiled Guinean opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo says his passport was revoked, preventing him from traveling from Abidjan to New York to attend meetings connected to the United Nations General Assembly. Diallo, a prominent figure in Guinea’s opposition, has lived outside the country since 2022 and had planned to participate in events on the margins of the UN gathering. According to his party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), Diallo had already received a boarding pass when Ethiopian Airlines informed him that his passport had been cancelled by the issuing authorities. The airline consequently refused to allow him to board, the party said. The passport incident comes amid an extensive political crackdown under President Mamady Doumbouya. Doumbouya took power in a 2021 coup that removed Alpha Conde, Guinea’s first freely elected president. He later won a contested seven-year presidential term in elections held in December of the previous year. Major opposition figures, including Diallo, were barred from participating in those polls. In March, Doumbouya’s government dissolved the UFDG and several other leading opposition parties. Authorities have also banned demonstrations, while numerous dissenting voices have reportedly been arrested, convicted, forced into exile, or disappeared. Following the dissolution of political parties, Diallo urged Guineans to engage in “direct resistance,” although he did not specify what actions this would involve. He also argued that political change would not be achieved through dialogue or democratic processes. The reported passport cancellation therefore reflects both an immediate restriction on Diallo’s international movement and the broader deterioration of political freedoms in Guinea.

The available France 24 page presents a short preview for an episode of “Eye on Africa,” rather than the full report or video transcript. Its lead item is that the United States is withholding a visa from Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, described in the headline as Sudan’s de facto leader, ahead of a scheduled appearance at the United Nations. The preview gives no explanation for the visa decision, details about the UN appearance, or response from Sudanese officials, so those points cannot be established from the supplied text. The episode preview also lists two other subjects. Ghana is strengthening its drugs authority following major drug busts in France, Belgium and South Africa. The excerpt does not specify what was seized, when the operations took place, or what changes Ghana plans to make to its agency. The third item is the start of the school year in Ivory Coast; no further information about the school season is provided. The segment is attributed to Georja Calvin-Smith, Antonia Cimini, Clarisse Fortuné, Harold Girard and Justice Baidoo, and is listed as a 12-minute, 50-second program issued on September 22, 2026. The page also contains notices about video playback and a message that the requested content is unavailable. Those are website or access notices, not reporting. Accordingly, this summary reflects only the episode description supplied in the page text and does not claim to represent the full segment.