Global Courant 2023-04-15 13:09:11
BREAKBREAK,
Witnesses reported ‘showdowns’ and explosions and gunfire near a paramilitary Rapid Support Forces base in southern Khartoum.
Heavy gunfire has been heard in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum after days of tension between the army and a powerful paramilitary group.
The source of the gunfire was not immediately known. Shots were fired near the Sudanese army headquarters and the Ministry of Defense in central Khartoum.
Columns of smoke rose in various places in the city and soldiers were deployed on the streets.
Witnesses reported “showdowns” and loud explosions and gunfire near a paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) base in southern Khartoum.
“The Rapid Support Forces were surprised on Saturday with a large army force entering camps at Soba in Khartoum and besieging paramilitaries there,” the RSF said in a statement.
The army “launched a sweeping attack with all kinds of heavy and light weapons,” it said.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said there was fighting.
“We hear gunshots in the capital near the presidential palace in the north of the capital, as well as in Soba,” Morgan said. “There is a lot of confusion here about what is happening right now. People are terrified.”
The rift between the armed forces surfaced on Thursday when the military said recent actions by RSF – a powerful paramilitary group – had been uncoordinated and illegal.
The heads of both the Army and the RSF told mediators they were ready to take steps to de-escalate the situation.
A confrontation between them could lead to protracted strife in a vast country already beset by economic collapse and outbreaks of tribal violence.
