Sudan's capital, Khartoum, has been rocked by explosions and gunfire today, as the army and paramilitaries attacked each other's bases, with each side claiming control of key locations such as the presidential palace and the airport. The violence followed weeks of escalating tensions between military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, over the planned integration of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the regular army. The RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia accused of war crimes against non-Arab ethnic minorities in the Darfur region. Analysts have said the integration of the RSF into the army is one of the key points of contention.
The violence has led to calls from civilian leaders and Western governments for an immediate ceasefire to prevent the country from "total collapse". The military's civilian interlocutors urged both sides to stop hostilities, while the US ambassador to Sudan called on senior military leaders to do the same.
