Fierce fighting erupted on Saturday morning with clashes between the Army and paramilitary forces in Sudan. Tensions prevailed over a proposed transition to civilian rule.
Capital Khartoum is under duress as civilians are struggling to seek shelter, due to the ongoing power struggle. So far, three civilians had been killed and 9 people were injured at Khartoum Airport and in the neighbouring North Kordofan state.
The battle has caused panic and fear among the locals as roads bridges and everything has gone under lockdown with people being stuck in between.
Tensions had increased between the government and the paramilitary group in recent days, which comes after Sudanese groups and the ruling military junta failed to reach an agreement last week over transitioning to a civilian-led government. One of the key issues that held up the deal being the integration of the Rapid Support Force (RSF) with the Army.
The proposed move to a civilian-led government has been the issue of contempt among others where the RSF wanted to delay it for 10 years, but the army said it should happen in two years.
The RSF is under the command of the council’s vice-president Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, while the army is headed by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Its noteworthy that Gen Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, was a key figure in the conflict in Darfur that began in 2003 and has left hundreds of thousands dead.
Gen. Dagalo, has claimed that his troops were forced into a confrontation with the military to foil a coup plot.
There have been regular pro-democracy protests in Khartoum ever since the 2021 coup.
Western powers and regional leaders had urged the two sides to de-escalate tensions and to go back to talks aimed at restoring civilian rule.