04/16/2023 22:30 (act. 04/16/2023 22:40)
Fighting continues in Khartoum on Sunday ©APA/AFP
In Sudan, the army appears to be gaining the upper hand in the fierce struggle with paramilitary forces. The army carried out air strikes against barracks and bases of the “Fast Support Forces” (RSF), according to witnesses. It managed to destroy most of these facilities. The army also regained control of much of the presidential palace in the capital, Khartoum. So far, at least 59 civilians have been killed, along with dozens of militants.
Doctors announced this on Sunday. Around 600 people were also injured in the power struggle in the northeast African country. According to observers, the conflict that erupted on Saturday was triggered by a dispute over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces as part of the transition to civilian rule.
In 2019, mass protests in Sudan, plagued by serious economic problems, led to the overthrow of decades-long ruler Omar al-Bashir. The army and the RSF were involved in this. At that time, military and civilian groups agreed on an interim government. In October 2021, however, there was a coup in which the military took full power. Since then, protests have repeatedly called for the military to withdraw from politics. RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, recently led a movement that he says wants to bring the country to democracy.
After fighting broke out on Saturday, the RSF said it had taken control of the presidential palace, the residence of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the airport in Khartoum. Gunshots and explosions were heard in Khartoum on Sunday. Weapons wagons and armored vehicles passed through the city. Banks and authorities remained closed. Witnesses also reported artillery fire in the towns of Omdurman and Bahri, near Khartoum. Shots were also fired at the port of Bur Sudan on the Red Sea, where no clashes had previously been reported.
On Sunday night, eyewitnesses said that RSF members were still in the airport building, which was under siege by the army. However, they hold back attacks to avoid major damage. Witnesses and local residents said a major problem was the thousands of heavily armed RSF fighters stationed in neighborhoods in Khartoum and other cities that could not be controlled by official authorities. State television stopped broadcasting, claiming to prevent the broadcast of RSF propaganda.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said it had halted its work in famine-stricken areas of Sudan after three Sudanese officials were killed in fighting and a WFP plane was hit at Khartoum airport.
The US, China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations and the European Union have called for an end to the fighting. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan bin Al-Saud held phone calls with Burhan and Hemedti, according to state media. Sudan demanded that the country have an internal solution without foreign interference.