The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced Saturday it had taken control of the presidential palace, a strategic guesthouse inside the army’s headquarters, and the Khartoum International Airport here in the capital.
The RSF said in a statement that it also took full control of Merowe and El-Obeid airports, in addition to a number of strategic sites in the country.
The claims cannot be independently confirmed as heavy gunfire exchanges were still raging in Khartoum, and the military has used warplanes to strike the RSF units.
RSF announcement came shortly after the army’s general command announced that clashes erupted between it and the RSF troops at unnamed strategic sites.
“Clashes are now taking place between our armed forces and the rebel Rapid Support Forces at the strategic sites,” the Sudanese army’s general command said in a statement.
Heavy gunfire was heard on Saturday around a major RSF base south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The eyewitnesses also said that heavy gunfire took place on Saturday around Merowe Air Base, some 436 km north of the capital, Khartoum.
Egypt voices concern over Sudan clashes, calls for restraint
Egypt expressed on Saturday its great concern over the ongoing clashes in neighboring Sudan, calling on all Sudanese parties to exercise utmost restraint, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Egypt also urged all Sudanese parties to protect the lives of the citizens and prioritize the higher interests of their nation.
The Kingdom of Bahrain called on the Sudanese parties to prioritize reason, stop armed clashes, to exercise restraint to prevent bloodshed, and to resort to dialogue to reach political solutions that preserve Sudan’s security and stability and protect the interests of the brotherly Sudanese people.
The UAE also called upon all concerned parties in Sudan to exercise restraint, and to de-escalate and work towards ending this crisis through dialogue.
Sudan has been marred in turmoil since October 2021, when a coup overthrew a Western-back government, dashing Sudanese aspirations for democratic rule after three decades of autocracy and repression under Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan has been suffering a political crisis since the Sudanese army commander Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency in October 2021 and dissolved the sovereign council as well as the government.
In December 2022, Sudan’s military and civilian leaders signed a political framework agreement to end the political impasse and institute a two-year transitional civilian authority, but the two sides have so far failed to transform the agreement into a final deal.
They agreed on most of the issues, except for those relating to reforms of the security and military forces, under which the RSF and other armed factions would be integrated into the Sudanese army.
South Sudan acting minister of Foreign Affairs Deng Dau Deng issued a statement calling for a ceasefire and talks
