Sustained gunfire and explosions have been reported as clashes broke out between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the powerful militia Rapid Response Forces (RSF) which is commanded by the deputy head of the ruling Sovereign Council, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, on Saturday morning in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
A brief statement put out by the RSF spokesperson which Radio Tamazuj has seen said the SAF surrounded and attacked an RSF base in the Soba area in Khartoum.
“The Rapid Support Forces were surprised this morning, Saturday 15 April 2023 by a large force of the armed forces (SAF) entering the headquarters of the forces (RSF) in the Soba campgrounds in Khartoum,” the statement read. “The SAF besieged our forces present there and then attacked them with a sweeping attack with all kinds of heavy and light weapons”
According to the statement, the RSF leadership contacted the mediation team represented by Malik Agar, Minni Minawi, and Dr. Jibril Ibrahim and briefed them on the matter.
The RSF urged the Sudanese people and the international community to condemn the attack.
“RSF calls upon the Sudanese people and international and regional public opinion to condemn this cowardly behavior and calls on the Sudanese people to unite at this critical historical moment,” the statement concluded.
Efforts to reach the SAF spokesperson were futile.
Radio Tamazuj has obtained video footage of RSF forces frog marching and interrogating captured SAF soldiers. An RSF commander is also heard in the background chiding the captured SAF soldiers for referring to the RSF as “mere militia” but sternly ordering his men not to kill the seized soldiers.
“It is Ramadan and unlike them (SAF), we are Muslims who are fasting so do not kill or hurt them (captured SAF),” the RSF commander says. “You (SAF) used to refer to us as militia, now what is happening?”
Mahmoud Al-Amin, a Khartoum resident who lives in the Jabra suburb, told Radio Tamazuj that he woke up to the sound of gunfire and explosions and that he could see fires near the Sports City.
A South Sudanese refugee in Khartoum dweller called Rogina who lives near the Khartoum International Airport said she was gripped with fear and anxiety and does not know what is happening.
“We hear the sound of bullets and heavy weapons.” She said. “I fled from South Sudan because of the war and now I do not know what to do.”
A Radio Tamazuj reporter said he could see smoke billowing from a distance in the south of Khartoum and reported massive deployment of the security forces, armored vehicles, and tanks in the city.
Interestingly, hours before the clashes, the Sudanese mediators announced at dawn on Saturday after they met with the head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, that the crisis between the army and the RSF was being resolved.
On Thursday, SAF Spokesperson Nabil Abdallah in a television broadcast warned of a looming confrontation with the RSF which he at the time said deployed forces in the capital city and other areas.
Tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (SRF) led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have escalated in recent months, forcing a delay in the signing of a peace agreement with political parties to revive the country´s democratic transition.
In the Thursday statement, the military said the RSF build-up in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country was done without “the approval of, or coordination with” the armed forces´ leadership and presents a clear “violation of the law.”
The tensions are rooted in the integration of the RSF into the military, a key term of the deal first agreed upon last December. The paramilitary force grew out of former militias that executed a brutal crackdown in Sudan´s Darfur region over the past two decades.
Though the military and the RSF together led a coup in October 2021, friction between the forces’ two leaders has become visible in recent months. Conflicting public statements, heavy military presence in the capital, and parallel foreign trips reflected the tension.