IThe situation is escalating in the Sudanese capital Khartoum: on Saturday morning there were exchanges of fire, explosions and rocket attacks in several parts of the city. It is said that there were serious collisions at the airport in the north of the city. A passenger plane is said to have been hit, two passengers were killed, Sudanese journalists write on Twitter. There are also reports of rocket hits in Khartoum. Army forces launched attacks against paramilitary positions.
The fighting takes place between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), involved in military government, and the official army. The RSF is said to have positioned itself in Khartoum and other cities before Saturday. The notorious group, drawn largely from the Janjaweed militia, the mounted fighters believed to have committed numerous war crimes in the Darfur conflict, have claimed to have seized the presidential palace and guest house, as well as controlling the airport. Sudanese intelligence services have denied the information published by the RSF on its own website. The military has labeled the RSF a “rebel group” that tells “lies.”
The commander of the Presidential Guard told Arabic TV channel Al Jazeera that the country’s de facto leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is safe. The US ambassador and his embassy team have gone to safety, John Godfrey wrote on Twitter.
Reason for the escalation: According to the will of the second man in the interim government, RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, the Rapid Support Forces are to be integrated into the state military. The RSF said Sudanese soldiers entered their headquarters on Saturday morning and surrounded them. RSF forces then attacked Khartoum airport, which is close to RSF headquarters.
Fear of a new civil war
Only on Thursday did the Sudanese army warn against mobilizing the RSF. Observers saw the mobilization as a threatening gesture by the powerful RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Daglo against the ruler and supreme commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. A new civil war is feared.
Since the fall of long-term ruler Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, the military under the leadership of General al-Burhan has held power in the country. The incorporation of the notorious RSF into the military is one of the most important conditions for the formation of a civilian government. Although the military and the RSF jointly led a military coup in the fall of 2021, tensions between the two military leaders have been mounting in recent months.
The dispute is delaying the transition to a civilian government promised by ruler al-Burhan. Most recently, Daglo surprisingly spoke out in favor of a rapid transition to a civilian government, thereby opposing al-Burhan.
According to the original plans, al-Burhan should have withdrawn from the interim government by 2021 at the latest, leaving the country to be run by civilians. Instead, the military seized power again and indefinitely postponed democratic elections, prompting widespread protests against the military rule. This week the military postponed the appointment of a new prime minister and once again delayed the transfer of power.
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