MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces intensified after a brief lull in the middle of the day.
In recent hours, both sides claimed local successes. The Rapid Support Forces claimed control of El Fasher airport and two air bases. The army reported airstrikes on enemy bases near Khartoum.
The UN, the African Union, the EU and a number of countries have urged an immediate ceasefire and negotiations, but no contacts between the two sides are known to have taken place to date.
Clashes have reportedly engulfed the capital and at least seven of Sudan's 18 states. The country is faced with the risk of a full-scale civil war. Former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok said that a peace solution was "still possible," but the country "faces the danger of a split."
TASS has summarized the highlights of the Sudanese crisis.
Armed clashes
• The situation in Sudan escalated earlier this week over a dispute between army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the Sovereign Council (the country's governing body), and his deputy in the Council, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), the head of the Rapid Support Forces.
• On April 15, clashes broke out near the military base in Merowe and in Khartoum. According to the Russian embassy, the fighting took place near the Republican Palace, the army headquarters, the central market, as well as the airport and military bases.
• The clashes eased in the middle of the day, but by late afternoon hostilities resumed with renewed force in several areas. Al Jazeera television reported clashes near the presidential palace and the army command headquarters.
• Fighting is also in progress in North Kordofan, Gedaref, Kassala, North Darfur, West Darfur and South Darfur states.
• The Rapid Support Forces claimed control of Khartoum and El Fasher (in Sudan’s west) international airports, as well as two air bases located in the cities of Merowe and Jebel Aulia. The Special Forces' Twitter page posted photos of gunmen in front of military equipment allegedly stationed at the bases.
• The Sudanese Army did not confirm the loss of control of its facilities. Colonel Khaled Abdullah, of the Sudanese Armed Forces, denied on Al Jazeera the seizure of Khartoum Airport and the Merowe base.
The aftermath of the fighting
• Not even tentative estimates of casualties of nationwide clashes are available.
• The Doctors' Committee of Sudan said there were "dozens of casualties" in Khartoum. According to its sources, there are civilians among those wounded. The TV channel Al-Sharq, citing Sudanese medics reported the death of five civilians and dozens of wounded in Khartoum. The Al-Arabiya television channel reported five civilian deaths in the town of Nyala, the administrative center of South Darfur.
• Colonel Abdullah, of the Sudanese Armed Forces, confirmed military losses, but said that they had not yet been counted.
• No Russian casualties have been reported.
• The Sudanese Ministry of Health has urged all medics to go to hospitals in the capital to help the wounded.
• Khartoum Airport is closed. There were reports of fighting at the airport and the destruction of some aircrafts, including one UN plane.
• Some Ukrainian pilots were reportedly present at the airport at the moment of the fighting. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Saturday that they had been evacuated to safety.
• Chad has closed the 1,400-kilometer-long state border with Sudan.
• As former Prime Minister Hamdok, who in recent years participated in efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully, told Al Jazeera television, a war in Sudan would mean a war in the entire region.
Russia's position and international reaction
• Russia expects that the armed phase of the confrontation will soon stop and the sides will enter into negotiations, Russia’s ambassador to Sudan Andrey Chernovol told TASS.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, currently on a visit to Vietnam, has called on the warring parties in Sudan to stop the violence and opt for negotiations to resolve their differences.
• Calls for de-escalation have come from Britain, Italy, Turkey and other countries, as well as the African Union and the EU. The clashes in Sudan were condemned by UN Secretary-General Ant·nio Guterres.
The origins of the conflict
• Sudan's political crisis arose after a military coup in April 2019 ousted President Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country for 30 years.
• In October 2021, army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan disbanded the civilian government and imposed a state of emergency. He promised to call general elections in July 2023.
• In December 2022, the main political forces reached a framework agreement that envisioned the removal of the army from politics and a reform of the security forces. The signing of the final agreement, scheduled for April 1, 2023, has been repeatedly postponed due to disagreements between al-Burhan and the head of the Rapid Support Forces.
• The disagreements primarily concern the deadline for making the Rapid Support Forces an integral part of the unified army and who should be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces - a career military officer or a civilian president.