Fighting rocks Sudan capital as regular army battles paramilitaries

Khartoum, Sudan (AFP):

Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Saturday as paramilitaries and the regular army traded attacks on each other’s bases, days after the army warned the country was at a “dangerous” turning point.

The paramilitaries said they were in control of the presidential place as well as Khartoum airport, claims denied by the army, as civilian leaders called for an immediate ceasefire to prevent the country’s “total collapse”.

The eruption of violence came after weeks of deepening tensions between military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his number two, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, over the planned integration of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the regular army.

Witnesses reported “confrontations” and loud explosions and gunfire near an RSF base in south Khartoum.

Military leader Burhan has been at loggerheads with the RSF commander over a deal to return the country to civilian rule and end the crisis sparked by their 2021 coup.

The RSF said its forces had taken control of Khartoum airport, after witnesses reported seeing truckloads of fighters entering the airport compound, as well as the presidential palace and other key sites.

Its claims were quickly denied by the army.

“The army headquarters, Khartoum airport, and Merowe base are under full control of the Sudanese army,” an army statement said.

“The rebellious Rapid Support Forces are spreading lies that our forces attacked them to cover up their rebellious behaviour.”

‘Sweeping attack’

Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia formed by then president Omar al-Bashir.

A plan to integrate the RSF into the regular army is one of the key points of contention, analysts have said.

Eleventh-hour haggling between the two men over the details has twice forced postponement of the signing of an agreement with civilian factions setting out a roadmap for the transition.

AFP reporters heard gunfire near the airport, as well near Burhan’s residence and in Khartoum North. Civilians were seen running for cover as artillery exchanges rocked the streets.

Fighter jets were seen patrolling the skies over Khartoum, witnesses said.

The army said: “The air force is now carrying out… operations to quell the irresponsible actions by the Rapid Support Forces militia. . . .”

The two sides traded blame for starting the fighting.

“The Rapid Support Forces were surprised Saturday with a large force from the army entering camps in Soba in Khartoum and laying siege to paramilitaries there,” the RSF said in a statement.

It said a “sweeping attack with all kinds of heavy and light weapons” was under way.

The army said the paramilitaries started the heavy fighting.

“Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces attacked several army camps in Khartoum and elsewhere around Sudan,” army spokesman Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah told AFP.

“Clashes are ongoing and the army is carrying out its duty to safeguard the country.”

Troops blocked off the bridges across the Nile linking Khartoum with its sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North. They also sealed off the road to the presidential palace.

The military’s civilian interlocutors called on both sides “to immediately cease hostilities and spare the country slipping into the abyss of total collapse.”