Sudan’s military launched air strikes on a camp of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) near the capital in a bid to regain control of the country on Sunday, after a power struggle sparked clashes that killed dozens of military personnel and at least 56 civilians.
Saturday’s clashes were the first between army units loyal to the head of the Sovereignty Council and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Deputy Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, since the two sides were involved in the overthrow of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2019.
Witnesses said late on Saturday that the army had shelled a camp belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the city of Omdurman, on the other side of the capital Khartoum, at the end of a day of heavy fighting.
Each side claimed control of the airport and other vital facilities in Khartoum, where fighting raged overnight.
In the early hours of Sunday, residents said they heard gunshots and heavy artillery shell explosions overnight. Al-Arabiya broadcast footage showing thick smoke rising from some neighbourhoods in Khartoum.
Huda, a resident of a neighbourhood in southern Khartoum, said: “We are scared and haven’t slept for 24 hours because of the loud sounds and shaking of houses. We are worried that water, food and medicine will run out for my father, he is diabetic”.
“There is a lot of misinformation and everyone is lying. We don’t know when that ends and how it ends.”
Taghreed Abdeen, an architect living in Khartoum, said power was cut off and people were trying to conserve mobile phone batteries. “We can hear air strikes, shelling and gunshots.”
The preliminary committee of the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate said it was difficult for paramedics and patients to reach hospitals and called on the army and the Rapid Support Forces to provide safe passages.
Videos posted on social media showed military planes flying low over the city, and at least one of them appeared to be firing a missile.
Sudan’s armed forces on Saturday ruled out the possibility of negotiations or dialogue with the country’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The armed forces said on their Facebook page: “There is no negotiation and no dialogue before the dissolution and fragmentation of the rebel Hemedti militia.”
The army said in a statement on Sunday: “The hour of victory is approaching.”
“We have mercy on the innocent lives lost by this reckless adventure committed by the rebel Rapid Support Militia and our prayers for the injured, and we promise our patient and proud people good news soon, God willing,” the statement added.
The Sudanese army launched air strikes on a RSF camp in the Salha area south of Omdurman.
Residents of the Sudanese capital Khartoum are trying to flee the shooting amid clashes between rival forces for control of the presidential palace, state television and the army headquarters.
A number of deaths are reported as a result of the clashes.
Residents of the Sudanese capital described the extent of their panic and fear, and many recounted how shots were fired at the house next to his own.
Some 56 civilians have been killed across the country, according to a committee of Sudanese doctors. Medical sources added that dozens of army troops were killed while others were receiving treatment in hospitals.
The total number of injured in those clashes was at least 595.
Three staff members of Sudan’s World Food Programme (WFP), an organization that provides food supplies to communities most in need, were killed in a shootout at a military base in the western city of Kabkabiya.
A spokesman for the UN secretary-general said on Twitter that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for an immediate end to violence in Sudan.
Guterres spoke with Sudan’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, he said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expressed his country’s deep concern over the developments in Sudan, calling on the Sudanese parties to give priority to the language of dialogue and national consensus.
This came during a phone call on Saturday evening from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to a statement by Egyptian Presidency Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.
The call dealt with “discussing the latest developments in Sudan,” and Sisi expressed “Egypt’s deep concern over the developments of the situation in brotherly Sudan, following the ongoing clashes there.”
The Egyptian president stressed “the seriousness of the negative repercussions of these developments on the stability of Sudan, which is going through a delicate historical moment, which requires the utmost wisdom and restraint.”
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called on the Sudanese leadership on Saturday to rein in its forces and de-escalate after the RSF clashed with the army in an apparent coup attempt.
Cleverly said on Twitter: “The ongoing violence across Sudan must stop immediately… The UK calls on the Sudanese leadership to do everything in its power to rein in its forces and de-escalate to prevent further bloodshed.”
“Military action will not resolve this situation.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday he had consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the clashes in Sudan.
Blinken said in a statement that they agreed that the parties to the clashes should immediately end hostilities without any preconditions.
The current fighting follows a series of problems that followed the ouster of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from power in 2019.
The military led a coup to get rid of him, and civilians demanded a role in the transition to democratic rule.
A joint government of civilians and military was formed, but was later toppled after another military coup in October 2021.
Since then, the rivalry has intensified between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and the country’s de facto president, on the one hand, and his deputy, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, on the other.
A framework for an agreement on the transfer of power to civilians was drawn up last December, but talks on implementing its details have failed.
The two men disagree on the direction in which the country is moving toward civilian rule.
They also disagree over the plan to include the 100,000-strong Rapid Support Forces in the army and who will lead the new force next.
