Heavy gunfire heard in Sudan’s capital Khartoum

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Witnesses reported ‘confrontations’ and explosions and gunfire near a base held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in south Khartoum.

Heavy gunfire has been heard in Sudan’s capital Khartoum following days of tension between the army and a powerful paramilitary group.

The source of the gunfire was not immediately known. Shooting was heard in the vicinity of Sudan’s army headquarters and the defence ministry in central Khartoum.

Columns of smoke emanated from various places in the city and soldiers were deployed on the streets.

Witnesses reported “confrontations” and loud explosions and gunfire near a base held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in south Khartoum.

“The Rapid Support Forces were surprised Saturday with a large force from the army entering camps in Soba in Khartoum and laying siege to paramilitaries there,” the RSF said in a statement.

The army force “launched a sweeping attack with all kinds of heavy and light weapons”, it said.

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said fighting was ongoing.

“We are hearing gunfire in the capital near the vicinity of the presidential palace in the northern part of the capital, as well as in Soba,” said Morgan. “Lots of confusion here with regards to what is happening at the moment. People are terrified.”

The rift between the forces came to the surface on Thursday when the army said recent movements by RSF – a powerful paramilitary group – had happened without coordination and were illegal.

The heads of both the army and RSF told mediators they were ready to take steps to de-escalate the situation.

A confrontation between them could spell prolonged strife across a vast country already dealing with economic breakdown and flare-ups of tribal violence.

Current tensions stem from a disagreement over how the RSF should be integrated into the military and what authority should oversee the process. The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement.

However, the army-RSF rivalry dates back to the rule of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.

Under the former president, the paramilitary force, led by powerful General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, grew out of former militias known as the Janjaweed that carried out a brutal crackdown in Sudan’s Darfur region during the decades of conflict there.