Witnesses told Reuters that the Sudanese army appeared to gain the upper hand on Sunday in a bloody power struggle with the Rapid Support Forces after the army targeted its bases with air strikes, while at least 59 civilians were killed, including three United Nations staff.
On Saturday, clashes erupted between units in the army loyal to the head of the Sovereignty Council, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by the deputy head of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo.
These clashes, the first since Al-Burhan and Hamidti participated in the overthrow of former President Omar Al-Bashir in 2019, erupted due to a dispute over the integration of the Rapid Support Forces into the army as part of a transitional phase towards civilian rule.
The United Nations Mission in Sudan said Al-Burhan and Hamidti had agreed to stop the fighting for a period of three hours, starting from 4 pm local time (1400 to 1700 GMT) to allow humanitarian evacuations proposed by the United Nations, but the agreement was largely ignored soon after. relative calm.
As night fell, after the cessation of hostilities expired, residents reported artillery shelling and air strikes in Kafouri, Khartoum North, where the Rapid Support Forces base is located.
Witnesses told Reuters that the army is resuming air strikes on the Rapid Support Forces camps in Omdurman, the Kafouri neighborhood and in the east of the Nile, prompting the RSF fighters to flee.
The United States, China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the African Union have called for an immediate end to hostilities, which threaten to exacerbate instability in an already volatile region.
Neighboring countries and regional organizations stepped up their efforts on Sunday to end the violence. This included an offer from Egypt for mediation.
The clashes come in the wake of escalating tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces over the integration of these paramilitary forces into the army. The dispute over the timetable for this led to the postponement of the signing of an agreement supported by international parties with the political forces regarding the transition to democracy after the military coup in 2021.
Clashes in Khartoum
A statement by the army said that limited clashes took place around the perimeter of the General Command in central Khartoum, and that the Rapid Support Forces deployed snipers on some buildings, but “they are being monitored and dealt with.”
Earlier on Sunday, witnesses and residents told Reuters that the army launched air strikes on the barracks and bases of the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum state, and managed to destroy most of their facilities.
They added that the army regained control of a large part of the presidential palace in Khartoum from the Rapid Support Forces after each side announced its control of it, along with other important facilities in the city, which is still witnessing clashes with heavy artillery and firearms until Sunday.
Witnesses said that members of the Rapid Support Forces are still inside Khartoum International Airport, which the army is besieging and reluctant to launch strikes to avoid serious damage.
However, witnesses and residents said that there is a serious problem represented by the presence of thousands of heavily armed members of the Rapid Support Forces in the neighborhoods of Khartoum and other cities, with no authority capable of controlling them.
Huda, a resident of a neighborhood in southern Khartoum, told Reuters: “We are afraid and have not had sleep for 24 hours because of the loud sounds and the shaking of houses. We are worried about running out of water, food and medicine for my father, as he is diabetic.”
She added, “There is a lot of misinformation out there and everyone is lying. We don’t know when and how it will end.”
A prolonged standoff between the two sides could plunge Sudan into full-scale conflict at a time when the economy is already collapsing and tribal violence is flaring up, and could also derail efforts to move towards elections.
Civilian casualties
The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said that at least 56 civilians have been killed and 595 wounded, including soldiers, since the outbreak of the clashes.
It added that dozens of soldiers were killed without giving a specific number due to a lack of information from hospitals.
On Sunday, the United Nations World Food Program announced a temporary halt to all its operations in hunger-stricken parts of Sudan, after three of its Sudanese staff were killed in clashes in North Darfur and one of its planes was “severely damaged” at Khartoum airport during an exchange of fire.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killings and called for accountability.
“Those responsible must be brought to justice without delay,” Guterres said on Twitter. “Humanitarian workers are not a target.”
“I am deeply disturbed by reports that projectiles have hit United Nations facilities and other humanitarian buildings, as well as reports of looting of United Nations and other humanitarian buildings in several locations,” said the head of the United Nations Integrated Transitional Support Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Volker Peretz, in a statement. in Darfur.”