Sudan’s army and powerful paramilitary forces have fought pitched battles in the capital and other areas, dealing another blow to hopes of a transition to democracy and raising fears of wider conflict.
Heavy fighting between armored vehicles, truck-mounted machine guns and fighter jets broke out in Sudan’s capital Khartoum and the nearby city of Omdurman on Sunday, as well as in flashpoints across the country. Each of the rival forces is believed to have tens of thousands of fighters in the capital alone.
At least five civilians were killed and 78 others were injured today, Sunday, bringing the death toll in two days to 61 dead and more than 670 wounded, according to what the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate announced. The group said it believed there were dozens of deaths among the rival forces.
The clashes come within the framework of a power struggle between Major General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Commander of the Armed Forces, and Major General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the Rapid Support Group. The two generals are former allies who jointly orchestrated a military coup in October 2021 that derailed Sudan’s short-lived transition to democracy.
In recent months, negotiations backed by the international community have revived hopes for an orderly transition to democracy. However, the growing tensions between Al-Burhan and Daglu eventually delayed reaching an agreement with the political parties.
Volker Perthes, the UN envoy to Sudan, announced Sunday that Al-Burhan and Daglo had agreed to stop the fighting for three hours on humanitarian grounds. After an hour-long lull that was to begin in the late afternoon, regular exchanges of gunfire and heavy weapons fire continued to be heard in parts of central Khartoum, and even intensified in some areas.
The clashes come as most Sudanese prepare to celebrate the main holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims traditionally fast from sunrise to sunset.
Khartoum residents said fighting broke out around the Sudanese army headquarters shortly before sunset. “Violent explosions and gunfire 24 hours a day. The fighting here has never stopped,” said Amani Sayed, 38.
In Khartoum and Omdurman, fighting broke out around military headquarters, Khartoum International Airport and state television headquarters. A senior military official said RSF fighters clashed with troops at a military headquarters early Sunday and a fire broke out at a ground force facility.
The army and the RSF claimed control of strategic locations in Khartoum and elsewhere in the governorate. Their claims cannot be independently verified.
Diplomatic pressure is mounting
Senior diplomats, including the US Secretary of State, the UN Secretary-General, the European Union’s foreign policy coordinator, the Arab League president and the African Union Commission chair, urged the parties to stop the fighting.
Members of the United Nations Security Council, who disagree on other crises around the world, have called for an immediate end to hostilities and a return to dialogue. On Sunday, the Supreme Council of the African Union met at its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to discuss the conflict in Sudan.
The movement’s Peace and Security Council called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire on both sides.” Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission, called for “immediately going to Sudan for the parties to abide by the ceasefire.” Arab countries with interests in Sudan – Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – made similar calls.
Clashes in Khartoum between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces ended months of escalating tensions between the two sides.
Saudi state television reported that Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, spoke on the phone with rival generals in Sudan and urged them to stop “all kinds of military escalation.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “We agreed that it was necessary for the two sides to end the fighting immediately, without preconditions,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
The United Nations World Food Program said on Sunday it had temporarily suspended operations in Sudan after three agency staff were killed in clashes the previous day and an aircraft used by the program was damaged.
“We cannot do our life-saving work unless the safety and security of our teams and partners is guaranteed,” said Cindy McCain, the agency’s executive director.
According to the United Nations, about 16 million people, or a third of Sudan’s population, need humanitarian aid.
In the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was following “with concern” the events taking place in Sudan. The Pope said, “I am close to the Sudanese people…and I call for prayer for them to lay down their arms and for dialogue to prevail, so that together we can return to the path of peace and harmony.” From the public in St. Petersburg. Saint Peter’s Square.
Clashes across Sudan
Rival forces are fighting in several places across Sudan, including the western region of Darfur, where tens of thousands of people live in camps for the displaced after years of a genocidal civil war.
Adam Regal, a spokesman for a charity in Darfur, said that dozens of people have been killed and injured since Saturday in a camp for the displaced in North Darfur.
A military official in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, said the two sides were fighting for control of the city’s airport, said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The official said the fighting also spread to the eastern region, including Kassala and Gedaref governorates bordering Ethiopia and Eritrea. He said the fighting took place around the RSF and army bases.
Sudan, a country at the crossroads of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, is notorious for its history of military coups and civil unrest since its independence in the 1950s.
The country has borders with six African countries and a strategic coastline on the Red Sea. Ten years of civil conflict led to the secession of South Sudan in 2011.
