Escalation of events between the army and the Rapid Support Forces… What is happening in Sudan?
“Tensions in Sudan over the past few hours, and unrelenting incidents between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have prompted military interventions that have brought the army and security forces into the streets.”
Over the past two days, heavy gunfire has been heard in the surroundings of the Sports City in the south of the capital, followed by a heavy security deployment around the presidential palace and the airport. Clashes broke out in the surroundings and inside the Merowe Air Base in the northern province of the country.
Sudanese army calls for calm
This came after confirmations from Sudanese Army Commander Abdul Fattah Al-Burhan and Rapid Support Commander Mohammed Hamdan Daqlo, known as Hemeti, yesterday, of their keenness to calm down and not to bring the country into the conflict.
The Sudanese Army said in press statements that it did not start what it described as aggression in the ongoing military clashes against the Rapid Support Forces, blaming what it described as the personal ambitions of the Rapid Support Command.
“The armed forces call on the Sudanese people to get rid of the officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the rapid support forces to join the armed forces and refrain from being instrumental in this battle to implement the illegal personal ambitions of their leadership,” the army spokesman said in a press statement.
The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate revealed, Saturday, the first civilian death toll in the ongoing clashes between the rapid support forces and the Sudanese Army. The Syndicate said that at least three civilians have been killed so far in the ongoing clashes.
The disputes between the two military forces erupted last Wednesday in the Merowe area, after rapid support by about 100 military vehicles was provided to a site near the military airbase there. The military described the move as illegal, stressing the need for the withdrawal of these forces, which has not happened yet.
Developments in Sudan
Dr. Ossama Abubaker, a Sudanese political researcher, says: Developments actually took place in the capital Khartoum and the northern state this morning, then shifted to unfortunate events in some states south of the Blue Nile and Darfur, and what happened is a clash between the rapid support forces and the Sudanese army forces, as a result of the intense tension between the two forces in the past period, and now this military-military dispute has exploded in the form of a military battle and is still burning in the center of Khartoum.
“I think that the spark that started this war is the sedition that was carried out by the former regime elements within the military establishment,” Abubaker said. “Omar al-Bashir’s regime has been calling for the spread of sedition and clashes between the army and the RSF.
“I don’t think the armed forces intended to start a battle in the heart of Khartoum, but the Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood within the army managed to drag both sides into this battle, and the only loser was the Sudanese people.”
