Sudan's army chief on Monday branded the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces a rebellious group and ordered it be dissolved, the foreign ministry said, as the faction battled the army in the capital and across the country.
The rupture between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed at least 97 civilians and 45 soldiers according to a medics’ group, with airstrikes and fighting in the capital and strife spilling across Sudan
Both sides claimed they made gains on Monday as smoke hung over the capital Khartoum and residents reported a clamour of airstrikes, artillery fire and shooting that cut off basic services and damaged hospitals in a city unused to violence.
The order follows a violent power struggle that has killed at least 97 civilians and injured 365 since the fighting started early on Saturday, according to a toll published by the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, an activist group. The government has not published a toll.
Bombardments and airstrikes rocked Khartoum on Monday, including near the military headquarters, and in Bahri just across the Nile River near another base, witnesses in the areas said. Smoke billowed from the runway of the capital's international airport, where explosions and fires were visible on TV images.
The rare outbreak of violence in the capital has also spread to other parts of Sudan, pitting the armed forces against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a former militia that had been due to merge with the army and whose leaders shared power in a ruling military council.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan heads the ruling council while RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, is his deputy. Both sides said they had made gains on Monday.
A protracted power struggle raises the risk of Sudan falling into civil war four years after long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir was toppled in an uprising, as well as derailing an internationally-backed framework deal to launch a civilian transition that was due to be signed earlier this month.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan heads a ruling council installed after a 2021 coup and the 2019 ousting of veteran leader Omar Bashir during mass protests. RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, is his deputy.
Under an internationally backed transition plan, the RSF was shortly due to merge with the army. Burhan on Monday ordered the group to be dissolved as the two sides exchanged bitter accusations.
In comments to Sky News, Burhan said he was secure in a presidential guesthouse within the defense ministry compound. He said his goal was to defeat the RSF, but did not rule out some form of negotiation. “Every war ends at the negotiation table even if the opponent is defeated,” Burhan said.
Egypt, which has long been wary of political change in Khartoum, is the most important backer of Sudan's armed forces. Hemedti has cultivated ties with several foreign powers including the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
There was no sign on Monday that either side was willing to back down. While the army is larger, and has air power, the RSF is widely deployed inside neighborhoods of Khartoum and other cities, making it hard for either side to secure a quick victory.
Fighting between the sides in Darfur has meanwhile raised the spectre of renewed conflict in the western region that from 2003 was plagued by years of bloody warfare that killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million
Hospitals damaged
Offices, schools and petrol stations in the capital were shut on Monday, while health services were widely disrupted and four major hospitals said they had been damaged and two were out of action due to the clashes.
The bridges linking Khartoum with Omdurman and Bahri across the Nile River’s two main branches were blocked by armored vehicles and some roads leading from the capital were impassable.
With water and power services also cut across large parts of the capital, some residents were venturing out to buy food, forming long queues at bakeries. There has been no police presence on the streets of Khartoum since Saturday and witnesses reported cases of looting.
There has been no police presence on the streets of Khartoum since Saturday and witnesses reported cases of looting.
“We’re scared our store will be looted because there’s no sense of security,” said Abdalsalam Yassin, 33, a shopkeeper who had bought in extra stock ahead of the coming Eid Al-Fitr Holiday.
UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the outbreak of fighting and urged a return to calm, saying an already precarious humanitarian situation was now catastrophic.
The RSF claimed it had captured an airport and military bases, while the military said it was in control of its headquarters despite what it called “limited clashes” in the vicinity. Reuters verified video showing RSF forces in some of those locations but could not verify battlefield claims.
The army regained control of the main television station, which briefly went off air after gunfire was heard during a live broadcast. The station began broadcasting videos showing the army destroying RSF vehicles, a day after the RSF said it had taken over the building.
Power struggle
The eruption of fighting over the weekend followed rising tensions over the RSF’s integration into the military.
Discord over the timetable for that process delayed the signing of the framework framework deal to launch a civilian transition that was due to be signed earlier this month.
It comes four years after Bashir was toppled, and nearly two years after a military coup.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an immediate cease-fire was needed and that the fighting potentially posed a threat to the wider region. Germany called on both sides to de-escalate.
In Darfur, residents said fighting continued. “It’s calmer than yesterday but there was heavy artillery in the morning,” said Mohamed, a doctor in El Fasher in North Darfur.
In Nyala, the region’s biggest city, a member of a monitoring group said people were terrified. “We see men on motorcycles and they have been going into people’s homes, stealing cars, going into buildings, and going into NGOs and looting,” he said.
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