In Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and in other areas of the country, clashes have been going on since Saturday morning between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group loyal to a faction of the Sudanese government. Various witnesses on the spot speak of firefights and explosions, but there is still no precise information on any dead or injured and on the outcome of the clashes.
The fighting began around a military base in southern Khartoum controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but then spread to the presidential palace, the headquarters of Sudanese state television and the city’s airport. Both sides – the army and the RSF – claim control of some of Khartoum’s central infrastructures, such as the presidential palace and the airport. It appears that the regular army used warplanes against the paramilitary group. However, the information is very confusing and extremely difficult to confirm.
#Sudan 🇸🇩: residents of #Khartoum woke up this morning to the sound of gunfire and plumes of smoke rising into the air as clashes appear to have erupted in the capital city.
These armed confrontations follow weeks of rising tensions between the SAF and RSF military factions. pic.twitter.com/QXQXRsGnzi
— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) April 15, 2023
Sudan is governed by a military junta known as the Sovereign Council, which seized power in the country in a military coup in October 2021. The two main members of the Sovereign Council are General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, who is the president of the country, and his second in charge, General and Vice President Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Hamdan Dagalo is also the head of the powerful Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which was born from the so-called janjawid, the Arab ethnic militiamen who during the war in the Darfur region, which began in 2003, committed massacres and torture and were accused of genocide. Today it is estimated that the RSFs have around 70,000 members.
Clashes in Nile Street between the rebel Rapid Support militia and the Sudanese army to control the vicinity of the presidential palace.#Sudan
Clashes in Nile Street between the rebel Rapid Support militia and the Sudanese army to control the vicinity of the presidential palace.#Sudan pic.twitter.com/edNgfIyVCz— Sudan News (@Sudan_tweet) April 15, 2023
A tough political clash over the fate of the Sudanese government has been going on for weeks between the two. The country’s military junta, after months of intense international pressure, has agreed to return power to a civilian government and resume the democratic transition that was halted in 2021, but there are still major disagreements on the conditions under which this transition will take place.
One of the conditions, for example, is that the RSF join the Sudanese army, creating a single regulatory force under a unified command. Abdel Fattah al Burhan wants this reunification to take place within two years, which would effectively put an end to the power of Hamdan Dagalo, who instead would like to maintain control of the paramilitaries for at least another ten years.
For weeks now, it had become quite clear that the political confrontation would lead to a military confrontation. The two generals had launched very serious accusations against each other and various witnesses said in recent days that both the army and the RSF had strengthened their bases in Khartoum and brought men and equipment to the city from various parts of the village.