Violence has broken out in Sudan between the military and the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The paramilitary is led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as ‘Hemedti’. As he seeks more legitimacy, he is up against General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto head of state and his boss
the two sides are in a dispute over who governs the country. violence is also being reported in several other cities across the country. the reuters news agency is reporting eyewitness accounts of sudanese army air strikes in the city of 0mdurman. the target is a base belonging to the rsf paramilitary group north east of the capital, khartoum. both sides have issued conficting claims of control over key installations, from airports to the presidential palace. in a post on facebook, the sudanese army has labelled the rsf a rebel militia and said there will be no negotiations or talks until the dissolution of the group. earlier i spoke with the director of africa programs at the us institute of peace, susan stigant, who was actually in sudan two weeks ago.
yes, i was there a week before last and at that point, it was clear that the tensions were incredibly high. there was a mobilisation of heavy weaponry, reports of mobilisation of additionalforces and it was clear in that the political negotiations that were going on in an effort to form a new civilian government to end the coup of october 2021, that the parties were coming down to the really difficult issues and particularly, the question of the structure of decision making and power and control, and the relationship between general burhan as the head of the sudan armed forces and general hemedti as the head of the rapid support forces. but the fear and concern and tensions were absolutely palpable at that point. so those tensions, as you describe there, were palpable the feeling that we were starting to come to what appears to be, at least, a pivotal moment. but perhaps for people