Sudan has been thrown into further turmoil as fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group entered its second day. The clashes erupted after months of tensions between the two factions. Eyewitnesses in the capital, Khartoum, reported intensified fighting after Sunday morning prayers, with loud noises and explosions heard throughout the night. Reports have also emerged of battles in the eastern city of Port Sudan, hundreds of miles away. The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors has confirmed that at least 56 people have been killed and nearly 600 injured in the clashes.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of Sudan's paramilitary group, has claimed that his group has seized most of Khartoum's official sites. He made the statement after his armed group clashed with the country's military on Saturday. However, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country's military leader, has disputed Dagalo's claims and said that the military has maintained control over government sites. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Dagalo – also known as Hemedti – described Burhan as a “criminal,” accusing him of instigating the fighting on Saturday.
Dagalo's rise to power began when he was a leader of Sudan's notorious Janjaweed forces, implicated in human rights violations in the Darfur conflict of the early 2000s. His group also killed at least 118 people in pro-democracy protests in June 2019 after troops opened fire at a peaceful sit-in. Dagalo and Burhan were pivotal in the 2019 overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir but have since become locked in a power struggle, with tensions over the Rapid Support Forces' integration into the army.
Armed clashes were reported throughout Khartoum on Saturday, including the presidential palace and the capital's army headquarters. Among those killed was an Indian national working in Sudan, who died after being hit by a stray bullet on Saturday. India and other countries have urged their citizens to take shelter. The Sudanese army has accused the Rapid Support Forces of “traitorous plotting” against the country and has demanded its dissolution.
There have been widespread international calls for calm, with both the US and the UN calling for an end to the fighting. The African Union has urged “the political and military parties to find a fair political solution to the crisis.” The military has been in charge of Sudan since a coup in 2021, with Burhan and Dagalo at the helm. The 2021 coup ended a power-sharing arrangement, following the 2019 ouster of long-term former President Omar al-Bashir.
A investigation has also uncovered another link between the two men: their involvement in Russia’s exploitation of Sudan’s gold resources to fund its Ukraine war, with Dagalo’s forces also being key recipients of Russian training and weaponry. Recent talks seeking to integrate the Rapid Support Forces into the country’s military have led to cracks in the alliance between the two military leaders. The hostilities are the culmination of what both parties view as an existential fight for dominance, with Burhan seeking support from Sudan’s former Islamist rulers, resurrecting the specter of days many Sudanese fought to leave behind.