A battle for control between rival forces in Sudan has turned deadly and sparked international alarm. Hundreds have been wounded in the fighting between the military and a paramilitary force.
Here is the latest
- Over 50 people have died and hundreds more have been injured in two days of fighting
- Both the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force claim control of key military and civilian infrastructure
- Neighboring Egypt, South Sudan offer to mediate between the warring generals
At least 56 people have been killed as Sudan’s armed forces (SAF) battled the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for control of the country, according to the Sudanese Doctors’ Union.
The doctor’s syndicate also said some 600 people were wounded in the fighting that broke out on Saturday.
Fighting continued well into the night in the capital Khartoum and other parts of the country after months of tensions erupted between two rival military leaders.
The sound of heavy firing could be heard as the military urged people to remain inside their homes. Schools, banks and government offices would be closed on Sunday.
Both sides claim they control key airports and other installations.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to the military leader Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, calling for an immediate end to violence and a return to dialogue.
Burhan overthrew long-term ruler Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. Eighteen months later, the military and the RSF staged a second coup, upending a transition to democracy.
Disagreements between Burhan and Dagalo over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army have now turned into open conflict.
The armed forces, on its Facebook page, declared Dagalo a “wanted criminal” and the RSF a “rebel militia,” saying there “will be no negotiations or talks until the dissolution” of the group.
In an interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, Dagalo accused Burhan of starting the battle by surrounding RSF troops. “This criminal, he forced this battle upon us,” he said.
Egypt, South Sudan offer to mediate
Egypt and South Sudan, which border Sudan to the north and south, respectively, have jointly offered to mediate between the country’s warring generals.
The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and South Sudan President Salva Kiir spoke on the phone on Sunday. Both leaders called for an immediate cease-fire, urging both parties to de-escalate and resort to peaceful dialogue.
“The escalating violence will only lead to further deterioration of the situation, which could get out of control,” Egypt’s presidency spokesman said, citing the two presidents.
Egypt had called, alongside Saudi Arabia, for an Arab League meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation in Sudan.
The head of the Egyptian delegation told the AL meeting: “The Arab republic of Egypt stresses the extreme importance of ensuring the safety and security of all Egyptian interests in Sudan,” the Reuters news agency reported.
Regional, international mediation needed to calm situation
Regional and international players need to step in and attempt to mediate between Sudan’s generals and de-escalate the fighting, Kholood Khair, the director of the Sudan-based Confluence Advisory think tank, told DW on Sunday.
Khair said she does not expect any stepping back from the conflict “until we see… a concerted international effort at a very high level.” She warned that the situation was getting “more difficult by the hour.”
“Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the type of political heavyweights being engaged on the mediation side,” she said.
RSF leader Daglo is believed to enjoy strong ties with Gulf countries, as his forces fought in Yemen alongside the Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels.
Burhan is meanwhile rumored to be close to Egypt, with unconfirmed reports saying he stopped in the country hours before his 2021 coup.
Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia have called on the Arab League to convene over Sudan later on Sunday.
Khair also said the appetite for a return to a democratic path in the country was still high but stressed the violence must stop first.
“There’s still a lot of support throughout the country for democratic transition,” she said. “We have to remember that this power struggle between the generals is by no means indicative of the broader politics that are taking place in Sudan.”
Internet temporarily blocked on government orders
Internet access was briefly blocked in Sudan on Sunday amid the ongoing clashes between the military and the powerful RSF paramilitary.
The MTN telecommunications company blocked internet services in Sudan, following orders from the government telecommunications regulator, two MTN officials told the Reuters news agency.
Sudanese Twitter users also reported the internet outage.
A few hours later on Sunday, Reuters reported that the internet service was restored, also on government orders. Users confirmed to the news agency they were able to access the internet again.
Fighting ‘even more aggressive,’ Khartoum-based journalist says
Mohamed Amin, a journalist currently in Khartoum, told DW clashes continued on Sunday and that the situation was “even more aggressive” than Saturday with heavy shelling in the vicinity of the armed forces headquarters.
He added that there were air strikes and artillery attacks against army headquarters, with both the military and the RSF claiming control over the vital facility.
Electricity has been cut from most of the capital city, Amin said.
“The clashes can be witnessed all over Khartoum and the sounds of the bombs and gunfire are everywhere,” he said. He added that Khartoum’s international airport remained shuttered for the second day in a row.
RSF accused foreign planes of striking bases in Port Sudan, Amin said, describing this as a “very new element” of the conflict.
Egypt says soldiers in Sudan for ‘military drills’
Egypt’s armed forces have justified the presence of its soldiers in Sudan, saying they were attending “military drills with counterparts in Sudan,” after the RSF paramilitary claimed to have captured Egyptians fighting alongside the Sudanese army.
The Egyptian military was coordinating with the concerned authorities in Sudan to guarantee the Egyptian forces’ security, an Egyptian armed forces spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.
The RSF forces on Saturday released a video purportedly showing Egyptian troops it said had “surrendered” to them at the Merowe air base north of Khartoum.
The video shows a group of men in military uniforms sitting on the ground, surrounded by standing RSF forces. One of the sitting men then speaks in an Egyptian dialect, identifying himself as a military officer within the Egyptian armed forces, and says he is the troops’ leader.
Sudanese activists have repeatedly accused Egypt of meddling in their country’s affairs, with a specific accusation to the neighboring country of supporting Burhan’s 2021 coup.
Air strikes reported in Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman
The Sudanese military has carried out air strikes on a base belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the city of Omdurman, eyewitnesses told the Reuters news agency.
The military said its troops had seized all RSF bases in Omdurman, but DW could not independently verify this.
Omdurman is close to the capital Khartoum.
Even before the air strikes, the Sudanese Doctors’ Union reported that four people were killed in fighting in the city.
Amal Mohamed, a doctor in a public hospital in Omdurman, described, “fire and explosions are everywhere.”
Sudanese air force calls on citizens to stay indoors
The Sudanese air force called on citizens to stay indoors as they conducted operations in the areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Fighter jets were seen flying overhead on Saturday.
The military said it launched strikes from planes and drones at RSF positions in Khartoum.
Khartoum International Airport was closed, and major international airlines suspended their flights to Sudan.
One eyewitness told Reuters they could hear sounds of explosions near the airport late on Saturday.
Fighting in Sudan is ‘worst case’ scenario
Fighting between the two groups was the worst-case scenario, Isma’il Kushkush, a journalist who watched their power struggle, told DW.
“This is the worst-case scenario that the Sudanese had hoped would never happen as they hoped for a transition into democracy after the 2019 Sudanese Revolution.”
fter Sudanese protesters toppled the regime of Omar al-Bashir in 2019, an agreement was made on transitioning the country into a democracy. It included both the military and the RSF, Kushkush said.
“That agreement – there were a number of issues that were to be dealt with – including justice and accountability… and the removal of the hands of the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the Sudanese economy. These were among the major issues.”
“But really the major issue between these two groups is the issue of command. Does the Rapid Support Forces come under the direct command of the army?”
“There were many in the Sudanese army that were distrustful, that were discontent of the power of the Rapid Support Forces that didn’t have the same traditional military training that the Sudanese army has.”
This is one side of the story, Kushkush said.
“The other side is that many see that there are elements within the Sudanese army that still have connections to the old government of Omar al-Bashir. There was a great deal of politicking between both sides and the civilians on how to transition.”
Diplomats call for end of hostilities and return to dialogue
The conflict has been widely condemned internationally, with the United Nations, the European Union, and the African Union calling for an immediate end to the hostilities.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Burhan and Dagalo and appealed for a return to dialogue.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell; the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat; the Arab League chief, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, all called for a cease-fire and for both parties to return to negotiations.
The Arab League, following a request by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, held an urgent meeting Sunday to discuss the situation.
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council also called for an emergency session on Sunday.
In a joint call, Saudi, US, and UAE foreign ministers emphasized “the importance of stopping the military escalation,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday to discuss the situation.
China also expressed concern, urging both sides to cease fire and prevent further escalation in a statement by its embassy in Sudan.
Who is who in the clashes in Sudan and how did we get here? DW unpacks the conflict
Who is Abdel Fattah al-Burhan?
The army general, who is the de facto leader of Sudan, became a household name in April 2019, after the army ousted longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir following monthslong mass protests.
Once a close ally of Bashir and a military commander leading his criminal campaigns in Darfur, Burhan emerged on the side of change following the 2019 power shift.
He chaired the Transitional Military Council, a body set up to oversee Sudan’s transition to democratic rule.
However, with the deadline for handing over power to civilian rulers looming, in October 2021 Burhan staged a coup, overthrowing civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and upending the country’s democratic transition.
Since then, Burhan has tightened his grip on the country, despite constant protests and a December 2022 framework agreement to pave the way for a civilian-led transitional government.
Who is Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemeti or little Mohamad ?
Daglo, who is more commonly known as Hemeti, has enjoyed a strong position of power since Bashir’s rule and beyond.
Coming from a family of camel herders far from the capital, Hemeti climbed the ranks to become the leader of the notorious Janjaweed militia, which al Bashir leaned on in his crackdown on the western Darfur region in the early 2000s. The militia is accused of committing war crimes against Darfur’s non-Arab rebels.
Though he lacked formal military training, he managed to carve a place for himself in Bashir’s security machine. In 2013, he was given leadership of the newly formed RSF, which emerged from the Janjaweed.
Bashir often relied on the paramilitary force to quell protests and discontent leading up to his ouster. As the RSF grew stronger and bigger, many worried it was becoming more powerful than Sudan’s formal security apparatuses.
In 2017, Sudan passed a law recognizing the RSF as an independent security force.
Like Burhan, Hemeti came on the winning side after Bashir’s ouster. Reports of him mulling over a role as president became widespread after he became deputy head of the Transitional Military Council. The council briefly led the country until the 2021 coup.
A deadly crackdown on a Khartoum protests camp in June 2019 left over 100 dead was largely blamed on RSF forces. Yet, Hemeti’s position only grew stronger.
His years of leading the RSF also saw him accumulate allies Russia as well as in the Gulf, where the paramilitary force was deployed to fight alongside the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
Burhan relied on the RSF forces to quell protesters following his 2021 coup. Meanwhile, the paramilitary leader disappeared from the limelight at the time, letting Burhan be the face of the coup.
Still, he was named the deputy head of Burhan’s ruling Sovereignty Council, and effectively Burhan’s number two.
How did we get here?
Since the military forces and civilian representatives signed the December 2022 transition deal, talks have been underway over how to bring the RSF within the Sudanese military. Analysts believe Hemeti, whose paramilitary is thought to be 100,000-man strong, does not favor such a restructuring.
In a February address, when he called the coup a “mistake,” Hemeti described it as a “gateway for the return of the former regime.”
The televised address came amid heightened tensions over the military restructuring, which has derailed the return to civilian rule.
A week before Hemeti’s speech, Burhan said he would not tolerate the RSF operating independently, stressing the importance of merging it into the army.
Hemeti alluded to Burhan’s warnings, vaguely accusing “remnants of the defunct regime” of striving to “drive a wedge” between the RSF and the army.
The signing of an agreement to name a civilian government was due earlier this month. It was, however, indefinitely postponed at the last minute.
The agreement has been called vital to allowing elections that would bring civilian leadership back to the country after years of turmoil.
On Thursday, a top army general accused the RSF of deploying forces across the country without the army’s consent, warning of potential clashes in a rare televised speech.
The paramilitary force, which had deployed troops near the northern town of Merowe, some 330 kilometers (186 miles) north of Khartoum, defended the presence of its forces.
After Saturday’s clashes ignited, both Hemeti and Burhan’s army exchanged accusations of attempting a coup.
Despite the ongoing violence, the director of the Sudan-based Confluence Advisory think tank said she believes the appetite for a return to democratic path in the country was still high.
Kholood Khair told DW that the fighting had to stop first.
“There’s still a lot of support throughout the country for democratic transition,” she said. “We have to remember that this power struggle between the generals is by no means indicative of the broader politics that are taking place in Sudan.”
DW/ Reuters, AP , AFP news agencies
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