Since the outbreak of the Sudanese revolution, both the Sudanese army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, Muhammad Hamdan Daglo, "Hamidati", have been hiding mutual discontent, motivated by an alliance of interest between them to thwart the democratic transition. In the northern town of Meroe, then in Khartoum and several other cities, the escalation that he had feared for several months erupted.
This is how the French magazine "Le Point" summed up the opinion of its correspondent in Khartoum, Augustine Basile, who described the clouds of smoke that fill the sky of the capital, with the intermittent roar of explosions continuing after dark, in an open struggle between the two strongmen.
The political process that began in December 2022 exacerbated the entrenched rivalry between Al-Burhan and Hamidti, and since the rejection of the issue of security sector reform by the pro-democracy political forces, and the failure of the workshop task that was supposed to decide on the issue of integrating the Rapid Support Forces into the army, neither of the two leaders has returned He bears seeing the other, according to a diplomatic source.
The spark of battles ignited from the movement of 100 vehicles belonging to the Rapid Support Forces last (Wednesday) to Marawi, where Sudanese and Egyptian fighter planes are stationed. Battles and contradictory statements on social media and the press between the two parties.
A source close to the Rapid Support Forces warned that "if the conflict spreads to other states, it will be a disaster, and chaos is likely to spread at the international level," at a time when there were reports of clashes in the regions of Darfur and Kordofan in the southwest of the country.
Activist Dalia Abdel Moneim said that the calls of the United Nations, the United States and the European Union to stop hostilities are not enough, stressing that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Russia and China can have a greater influence in resolving this crisis than the rest of the international community.
Le Point concluded that whether this is just a passing bloody episode, or the beginning of a longer conflict, this day has become the first military confrontation in the capital since Sudan's independence in 1956.
Okaz (Paris, Jeddah) @okaz_online