Fighting between Sudanese Armed Forces, RSF continues into 4th day

Fighting in the streets of the Sudanese capital and around the country between rival armed factions continued for the third day on Monday and into Tuesday morning, with the military having made a push to escalate its offensive on the positions of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.

By mid-Tuesday, after a US diplomatic convoy came under fire Monday night, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken had proposed a ceasefire that, if accepted by both sides, would begin tonight at 6 pm to facilitate the passage of humanitarian aid. The RSF then announced its acceptance of the proposal, accusing the army of failing to adhere to the call, while reports ahead of Tuesday evening remained conflicting as to whether the army had accepted the proposed ceasefire.

Eyewitnesses told Mada Masr that heavy artillery was directed toward RSF camps in the Jabra area, to the south of Khartoum, on Monday night. Armed Forces warplanes, which have buzzed over the capital’s skies for several days, focused intensive bombardment over the city of Omdurman, part of the metropolitan area of the capital, where there are many rapid support camps.

After a night in which the Sudanese Armed Forces bombed camps belonging to the Rapid Support Forces, heavy vehicles of the military’s armored corps were seen moving toward the perimeter of the clashes in Khartoum on Monday morning for the first time since the fight between the two sides erupted on Saturday.

This was followed by clashes concentrated in the vicinity of the Armed Forces General Command and the Khartoum International Airport. 

A military source inside the general command compound told Mada Masr on Monday that the Armed Forces have exerted control over the area, noting that the RSF had burned the civil defense and reconnaissance headquarters inside the compound.

The Sudanese Armed Forces announced on the same day that it had regained control of the radio and television broadcast headquarters in Omdurman, although RSF outlets posted video clips shot inside the headquarters, claiming they are in control of the premises.

The European Union ambassador was assaulted in his Khartoum residence on Monday night, said top EU diplomat Josep Borrell, with the ambassador, Aidan O’Hara, later reported safe. 

Meanwhile, Blinken spoke from Japan to say that he had reached out to both the Armed Forces Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo to call for a 24-hour ceasefire to allow the passage of humanitarian aid after a US convoy came under fire in an apparent attack by the RSF on Monday night. While the RSF publicly acknowledged its adherence to Blinken’s proposed ceasefire, confusion ahead of the time frame still prevails as it is not clear whether the military will adhere to the ceasefire or not.

The situation outside the capital

In the western region of Darfur, the Sudanese military announced on Monday that it took control of the military garrison in Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, after two days of clashes in which as many as 20 civilians were killed. In Nyala, the capital of West Darfur state, eyewitnesses speaking to Mada Masr said that the armed forces evacuated residents from a number of neighborhoods close to the clashes in the city’s south.

In the northern city of Merowe, the security situation appears unclear despite the military’s claim of having taken control of the site of an airbase, where video clips were filmed showing members of the Egyptian Armed Forces being held by RSF personnel.

In the coastal city of Port Sudan, the military announced that it had taken over the Rapid Support Forces’ entire headquarters.

Burhan ends military appointments in RSF,  Hemedti calls for international intervention

At the outset of the conflagration, Burhan dissolved the RSF and classified the paramilitary as a rebel force, while official decisions ensued on Monday, according to the official military spokesperson, to terminate the appointment of all military officers working within the Rapid Support Forces.

In statements to CNN, Burhan claimed that the Rapid Support Forces are launching a coup and that their commander, Dagalo, is acting against the state, adding that Dagalo will be tried in court if he is arrested.

Taking an opposing line, Dagalo released a statement on Monday urging the international community to take action against Burhan, accusing him of affiliation with Islamists and of “bombing civilians from the air.” Dagalo also claimed that the RSF did not attack anyone and is solely reacting to an assault on its forces, adding that it will do its best to “protect democracy and uphold the rule of law in Sudan,” as the people demand.

Burhan spoke later on the same day with Sky News, saying that he is “open to negotiations,” as every war ends through that means, though he also asserted that he would “definitely” defeat the paramilitary group, to whom he referred once again as “rebels.” 

Burhan held the RSF responsible for escalating the situation in residential and commercial areas of Khartoum and said that the military is "holding back" to spare the loss of more civilian lives.

Humanitarian corridor

Markets, services and medical facilities remained paralyzed in the three cities that make up the metropolitan area of Sudan’s capital — Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman — with water and power outages rendering communication hard for residents trapped inside their homes for shelter from exchanges of fire.

To allow for the provision of humanitarian assistance, the United Nations secured an agreement on Sunday between both the army and the RSF for a safe path to be opened between 4 pm and 7 pm on the same day.

Yet the UN envoy to Sudan later expressed his “utmost disappointment” that both sides only partially complied with the agreement, with clashes intensifying on Monday morning.

One hundred and forty-four civilians have been killed and around 796 injured in violent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, according to doctors groups following the casualties inflicted as fighting continued at sites across Sudan for the third consecutive day on Monday.

International mediation 

Late on Monday night, Reuters reported that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are working on proposing a ceasefire in Sudan, noting that the proposal hasn’t yet yielded any results.

The conflict was raised on Monday during a closed session of the United Nations Security Council as well.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the escalations on Saturday and called on both sides to resort to discussion and stop the violence. In his statement, the UN official urged the entities that have an influence on the situation to back up efforts to “end the violence, restore order, and return to the path of transition.”

As for Egypt’s diplomatic response, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry spoke on Sunday with his counterpart at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, which recognizes Burhan as the de facto head of state. In the official readout of the call, Shoukry expressed concern about the ongoing armed conflict with regards to the Sudanese people and reiterated Egypt’s position against external interference, which could potentially further "fuel" the conflict. Both parties called for a cessation of all violent clashes and asked the concerned parties to turn to peaceful dialogue instead.

Shoukry also held a phone call with the African Union Commission head on Sunday, where they discussed the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting scheduled for the same day and Egypt’s efforts to de-escalate the situation, whether by calling for an Arab League meeting along with Saudi Arabia or calling on Sudanese parties to initiate a ceasefire.

Following a Monday evening meeting of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated that the Egyptian troops held in Sudan were present for training purposes only and not to support any party. “Our troops there are safe and we have confirmed their wellbeing.”

Sisi also stressed that the conflict in Sudan is an internal matter and that Egypt’s position remains against the interference of foreign powers in the state's internal affairs.

Both President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir Mayardit, expressed interest in mediating a ceasefire between the two sides, while the US and British top diplomats issued a joint statement expressing their concern about the violence.

The head of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, was expected to arrive in Khartoum yesterday, on Monday, but his visit was postponed as the vicinity of the airport, adjacent to the army command and the headquarters of the General Intelligence, is witnessing violent confrontations.

Chadian President Mohamed Idriss Déby announced that he made a phone call to both the military and RSF commanders urging them to stop military operations and return to negotiations.

The US and British foreign ministers expressed their deep concern about the ongoing hostilities and violence in Sudan, and in a joint statement issued on Monday, they said the Sudanese people want democracy and civil government and that Sudan must return to this path.

"The future of Sudan lies in the hands of the generals involved in the conflict, and we call on them to end the fighting and return to negotiations," the statement added.

How we got here

The clashes in the Sudanese capital are the outcome of escalating tensions that have brewed as the military has tussled with the paramilitary group over particulars of the country’s governance since 2021, when the two sides acted together to overthrow the transitional government in a coup.

Earlier this month, in April, the Sudanese Armed Forces reiterated once again its demand for the RSF to be integrated into its ranks in accordance with a framework agreement signed in December of last year between civilian political forces and the military, which stipulated that a civilian government be formed on April 11, ending the current military rule in Sudan.

On April 11, the RSF deployed its forces near the strategic Merowe airport in northern Sudan. The city of Merowe is about 430 km north of the Sudanese capital, and it includes an airport with a military air base that covers air defenses for northern, central, western and eastern Sudan. A Sudanese military source told Mada Masr on Saturday that the RSF troops did not respond at the time to the requests of the military zone command in the city asking them to withdraw, stationing themselves in an empty area adjacent to the airport.

The Sudanese military said in a statement on Thursday, April 13, that “the country is going through a historic and dangerous juncture whose dangers are compounded by the RSF leadership’s mobilization of forces inside the capital and some other cities.”

On the same day, the RSF positioned a number of armored vehicles at several locations in the capital, two days after they were mobilized from the RSF-affiliated Zurq base in North Darfur state.

Demand for a unified military force was hampered by disagreements between the two commanders as to how the force would be organized and who would lead it.

Before coming head to head, Burhan and Hemedti had been ruling Sudan together since October 2021, when they co-led a violent coup that saw the military and the Rapid Support Forces overthrow the civilian parties with which they had shared power since the 2019 revolution and brutally repress protesters who rose up to challenge them.

Writing by Ahmed Bakr.