Sudan’s army is battling a rival paramilitary group at key sites across the capital and beyond, with reports of casualties in the worst violence to strike Khartoum in its modern history.
Gun shots and tank canons could be heard ringing out across the city as long-running tensions between the fighters boiled over. The clashes drew condemnation from officials in Africa, Europe and the U.S. as well as the United Nations.
The violence spread later on Saturday to several cities across Sudan where national army fighters engaged in skirmishes with Rapid Support Forces soldiers. Nyala and Fashir in the Darfur region and el-Obeid south west of the capital have all been gripped by violence, people briefed on the situation said. At least three people are believed to have been killed.
In recent days tensions between the RSF, which has origins in the janjaweed militia that terrorized the western region of Darfur in the 2000s, and the army headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have mounted over who retains power. Each side blamed the other for Saturday’s outbreak of violence.
The international airport in Khartoum was under the control of the RSF; the paramilitary group said it had also captured an airport in Meroe, about 210 miles (340 km) northwest of the capital. Several commercial aircraft had been damaged, including an Airbus A330 belonging to Saudia International Airlines, according to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
The violence throws into chaos plans for a power-sharing government to lead the country to democratic elections following a 2021 coup. A potential deal was seen as way to restore billions of dollars of Western aid frozen after the government was overthrown.
Sudan’s army fought the RSF in various points across the capital including at the Republican Palace, the seat of the country’s presidency; the headquarters of the Sudanese Armed Forces; and the headquarters of the President of the Sovereignty Council, according to a statement.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic television channel in the midafternoon, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the RSF, said his forces had taken control of several airports as well as the Presidential Palace. He accused Burhan of acting on behalf of those in the country who were still in favor of Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019 amid a popular revolt.
“We will catch Burhan and bring him to justice,” he said. “We will end this in the coming days.”
In an earlier statement, the RSF said it had been surprised when national soldiers entered its base in Khartoum, “besieging the forces present there and then attacking them with a variety of heavy and light weapons.” The army made similar allegations, saying it was the RSF that initiated the fighting.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, a coalition of trade unions that leads demonstrations against military rule, called on its members to form peace committees and protect local neighborhoods.
Volker Perthes, special representative for the U.N. Secretary-General in Sudan, said in a statement that he’d reached out to both the army and the RSF, urging them to “spare the country from further violence.”
John Godfrey, the U.S. ambassador to Sudan, said he was sheltering in place with the embassy team. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said all embassy staff had been accounted for, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the same for EU personnel in Sudan.
