Rival generals fight for control of Sudan as civilian death toll rises
- Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group have been fighting since Saturday for control of the chaos-stricken nation
- China and the United States have joined Sudan’s neighbours with appeals for an immediate ceasefire
Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday as fighting between the army and paramilitary forces led by rival generals raged for a third day, with the civilian death toll believed to have exceeded 100.
The violence erupted on Saturday after weeks of power struggles between the two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The conflict, which has seen air strikes, tanks on the streets, artillery fire and heavy gunfire in crowded neighbourhoods in Khartoum and other cities across Sudan, has triggered international demands for an immediate ceasefire.
As the fighting showed no sign of abating, Daglo took to Twitter to call for the international community to intervene against Burhan, branding him a “radical Islamist who is bombing civilians from the air”.
“We will continue to pursue Al-Burhan and bring him to justice,” he said, adding: “The fight that we are waging now is the price of democracy.”
In his only statement since the fighting flared, Burhan told Al Jazeera on Saturday that he was “surprised by Rapid Support Forces attacking his home” and that what was happening “should prevent the formation of forces outside the army”.