Gunshots and explosions rang out on Saturday morning in several parts of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, as months of rising tensions between rival factions of the armed forces appeared to turn into an all-out battle for control of one of Africa’s biggest countries.
Fighting that started early Saturday at military bases in southern Khartoum quickly spread across the city to the presidential palace, the headquarters of the state broadcaster and the international airport.
Videos circulating on social media showed soldiers firing in the streets, armored vehicles speeding through residential areas and travelers taking shelter on the floor of the airport amid reports of battles inside the terminal and near the runway.
The clashes came after weeks of mounting tensions between the Sudanese Army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group led by Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan.
Here are the latest developments:
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By lunchtime Saturday, the Rapid Support Forces claimed in a statement to have seized the presidential palace, a guesthouse inside the military headquarters, and the country’s main international airport as well as airfields in the cities of al-Obeid and Meroe. The claims could not be independently verified.
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A United Nations official said clashes were occurring “literally everywhere,” in Khartoum, including near the sprawling American Embassy in the southeastern corner of the capital. John Godfrey, the United States ambassador to Sudan, said on Twitter that he had returned to Sudan on Friday night, only to wake to “the deeply disturbing sounds of gunfire and fighting.”
Source : Nytimes
