CAIRO, April 18. /TASS/. The Sudanese army is redeploying its troops from the north and east of the country to the capital of Khartoum, where gun battles with Rapid Support Forces rage for a fourth day, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday, citing an official.
According to Al-Hadath television, the fiercest battles are now taking place near the presidential palace in the center of Khartoum. Warplanes are seen flying over the army’s General Staff. Artillery fire is being heard in the north of the capital. RSF have stated they control Khartoum’s international airport, a statement that the army hasn’t commented on yet. The Sudanese armed forces said on its Facebook (banned in Russia as it’s owned by Meta Corporation, which is designated as extremist in Russia) page that they had overrun one of the RSF’s headquarters in the capital.
The RSF said their key goal is to form a civilian government and protect the country’s democratic transition.
"A new revolution started on Saturday, which has already achieved several victories and continues to seek its noble goals, the main of which is the forming of a civilian government," the RSF said in a statement on Twitter.
The RSF said the army was responsible for the attack on the EU ambassador’s residence in Khartoum, also accusing it of bombarding residential neighborhoods and violating international law when handling prisoners of war.
The Sudanese army, which declared that the RSF are rebels, has placed on them the responsibility for all crimes of the past few days, including the shelling of a US diplomatic motorcade and the attacks on the EU ambassador’s residence in Khartoum and the headquarters of the UN Food Program. The army has accused the RSF of attacks on medical institutions, power plants and water supply stations and destruction of civilian airplanes.
The situation in Sudan has escalated over disagreements between army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the Sovereign Council, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is his deputy in the council. On April 15, clashes erupted between the sides near a military base in the city of Merowa and in Khartoum. The latest data indicate that more than 180 people were killed in the clashes while more than 1,800 sustained wounds.