KHARTOUM: Sudan’s army appeared to gain the upper hand on Sunday in a bloody power struggle with rival paramilitary forces after blasting its bases with air strikes, witnesses said, and at least 59 civilians were killed including three UN workers.
The fighting erupted on Saturday between army units loyal to General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s transitional governing Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is deputy head of the council.
It was the first such outbreak since both joined forces to oust veteran Islamist autocrat Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in 2019 and was sparked by a disagreement over the integration of the RSF into the military as part of a transition toward civilian rule.
The US, China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UN Security Council, European Union and African Union have appealed for an quick end to the hostilities that threaten to worsen instability in an already volatile wider region.
Efforts by neighbors and regional bodies to end the violence intensified on Sunday. That included an offer by Egypt and South Sudan to mediate between the fighting parties, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency.
The two rivals have been competing for power as political factions negotiate forming a transitional government after a 2021 military coup. Hemedti’s whereabouts were unknown on Sunday but Burhan was inside army headquarters in downtown Khartoum.
Witnesses and residents told Reuters that the army had carried out air strikes on RSF barracks and bases, including in Omdurman across the Nile river from the capital Khartoum, and managed to destroy most of their facilities.
They said the army had also wrested back control over much of Khartoum’s presidential palace from the RSF after both sides claimed to control it and other key installations in Khartoum, where heavy artillery and gunbattles raged into Sunday.
RSF members remained inside Khartoum international airport besieged by the army but it was holding back from striking them to avoid wreaking major damage, witnesses said.
“The hour of victory is near,” the army said in a statement on Sunday. “We pray for mercy for the innocent lives taken by this reckless adventure taken by the rebel Rapid Support militia … We will have good news for our patient and proud people soon, God willing.” –Agencies
