Intense armed clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out this Saturday in the country's capital, Khartoum, and in other parts of the territory, after several days of escalating tension and amid fears that the clashes they add the African nation to a more general fratricidal conflict.
In the early afternoon the situation on the ground was unclear and both sides continued to disseminate conflicting information about the origin of the fighting and the control of strategic positions, although an independent committee of doctors reported that at least three people have died and dozens have been injured.
The international community has denounced the violence and has en bloc called for the cessation of hostilities.
The Rapid Support Forces, which have tens of thousands of troops, have said in a statement that they have been the target of an initial "brutal attack" by the Army, and affirmed that they have responded to the attack and that they have taken control strategic points such as the Khartoum airport and an air base in the north of the country, as well as the presidential palace.
They have also accused the Armed Forces of wanting to cling to power and endangering the stability of the country.
The group's commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has assured that they will persecute the army commander and leader of the 2021 coup, which ended the country's fragile democratic transition, Abdefatá Al Burhan, and will hand him over to justice.
The Army, in turn, has assured in a statement that they have been attacked first, has accused the paramilitary group of spreading lies and has affirmed that they continue to retain control of air bases, airports, and the capital.
Commander Al Burhan has also defended that the presidential palace and the headquarters remain under his control, has said that the Rapid Support Forces have attacked his house, and has accused Dagalog's "rebel forces" of forcing the situation moved by “his personal ambitions”.
The fighting seems to have initially broken out in the morning in a southern suburb of Khartoum, from where they have spread to the nerve centers of the capital: the presidential palace, the army headquarters, military bases on both sides, the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, the international airport, and the central office of state television.
There have also been clashes at at least one air base in northern Sudan and, according to the Armed Forces, in other states in the south and west of the country.
Sudan has been plunged into a situation of great instability since in October 2021 the Army and the Rapid Support Forces, now at odds, carried out a coup that ended the transition that began in the country shortly after the dictator Omar Al Bashir was ousted in 2019 after months of protests.
The coup was a severe blow to popular aspirations to dismantle the old regime and lay the foundations for a civil and democratic government.
The leader of the coup, Abdefatá Al Burhan, promised that he would appoint a technocratic executive to run the country until elections in 2023. But his plans ran into broad popular opposition and he has had to face a serious economic crisis with very little support. , alarming levels of internal violence and strong diplomatic isolation.
The head of the UN mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes, has called for an immediate end to the fighting, and his office has reported that it is in contact with both parties in an attempt to mediate to end the violence.
The United States, Russia, Egypt, and the European Union have also called for an end to the fighting.
historical grievances
The Rapid Support Forces were established a decade ago from the union of central government-backed and armed groups that had led the campaign of brutal repression since 2003 in Darfur, in the west of the country.
His relationship with the Army has been marked by a strong rivalry, essentially derived from historical grievances, his struggle for power and the exploitation of the country's wealth.
And although this struggle worsened after the overthrow of Al Bashir in 2019, both had been able to maintain a fragile alliance of convenience to avoid ceding power to a civilian authority, carry out security sector reforms and expose themselves to a surrender process. of counts.
His inability to redirect the situation since the joint coup in 2021, however, has contributed to making the association increasingly unsustainable.
In December, the coup generals ended up signing a vague initial agreement with the civilian coalition that they had driven from power in the military coup to pave the way for a new transition.
That pact, rejected by the pro-democratic movement that has led the sustained social mobilization in opposition to the coup, left to later address the main demands of the opposition, including accountability and reform of the Army and security services, something that has not been achieved.
In February, the Rapid Support Forces began to deploy in larger numbers to Khartoum, while negotiations continued on their possible integration into the regular forces.
The tension began to reach alarming levels at the end of this week, when the Army denounced some recent troop movements of the paramilitary group, and warned of the possibility of armed confrontations.
Both sides have been accused of publicly escalating their friction to instill fear and force concessions from the civilian opposition, but the current escalation, both in terms of rhetoric and hostilities, has not occurred before.
Follow all the international information on
and
, or in
our weekly newsletter
.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I'm already a subscriber