Sudan paramilitaries say they have seized key sites in apparent coup bid By Reuters

By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan’s main paramilitary group said it took control of the presidential palace, army headquarters and Khartoum’s international airport on Saturday in what appeared to be a coup attempt, as clashes broke out with the army.

The Rapid Support Forces, which accused the army of attacking them first, said they had captured the airports in the northern city of Marawi and Al-Obeid in the west.

The military said that the Sudanese Air Force is carrying out operations against the RSF. Footage from broadcast stations showed a military plane flying in the sky over Khartoum, but Reuters could not verify the authenticity of this material.

Gunfire was heard in several parts of Khartoum and eyewitnesses reported gunfire in neighboring towns.

A Reuters journalist saw cannons and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of the capital and heard heavy weapons fire near the headquarters of the army and the Rapid Support Forces.

Doctors said that clashes took place in residential neighborhoods and civilians were injured.

An announcer who appeared on the screen for a short time said that clashes also took place at the headquarters of the Sudanese state television.

The Foreign Ministry said Egypt, one of the most influential Arab countries, had expressed grave concern over the clashes and called on all parties to exercise restraint.

The US ambassador to Sudan, John Godfrey, said the escalation of tensions into direct combat was “extremely dangerous” and urgently called on the high command to stop the clashes. Godfrey said he and the embassy staff are sheltering in place.

The army said the RSF attempted to attack its forces in several locations after witnesses reported heavy gunfire in multiple parts of the country, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

The RSF, which analysts say is 100,000 strong, said its forces were attacked first by the army.

Earlier, the Rapid Support Forces, led by the former militia commander, Major General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said that the army surrounded one of its bases and opened fire with heavy weapons.

The Rapid Support Forces, led by Hemedti, were formed from militias accused of war crimes in the Darfur conflict. In June 2019, security forces led by the Rapid Support Forces raided a pro-democracy camp in Khartoum and killed nearly 130 people, according to a count by activist doctors.

A prolonged standoff between the RSF and the army could dramatically worsen the security situation across a vast country already dealing with economic collapse and flare-ups of tribal violence.

Hemedti has been the deputy head of the ruling Sovereignty Council, headed by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, since 2019.

Civilian political parties, which signed a preliminary power-sharing agreement with the army and the Rapid Support Forces, called on these parties to cease hostilities. The Russian embassy also called for an end to the violence.

The hostilities came after days of tension between the army and the RSF, which could undermine long-running efforts to return Sudan to civilian rule after power struggles and military coups.

Hemedti, once one of Darfur’s most ruthless and feared militia leaders, has positioned himself at the forefront of a planned transition to democracy, upsetting fellow military rulers and triggering a troop build-up in the capital, Khartoum.

The rift between the forces came to the fore on Thursday, when the military said recent moves, especially in Marawi, by the RSF were illegal.

Witnesses told Reuters that there was a heavy exchange of gunfire on Saturday in Marawi.

The RSF described the army’s actions as a “violent attack” that must be condemned. It added that the paramilitary group had informed local and international mediators of the developments.

The Rapid Support Forces, which along with the military overthrew autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019, has begun redeploying its units to Khartoum and elsewhere amid talks last month about its integration into the army under a transition plan that would lead to new elections.