Sudan capital witnesses ‘calm’ after fighting on Wednesday

Warplanes were heard circling above the Sudanese capital on Thursday morning. The day before, fighting between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and army soldiers took place in several places in the city. Airstrikes on RSF sites were reported from Halfaya in Khartoum North. Supporters of the ousted Al Bashir regime are against a meeting between the commanders of the army and RSF. A retired army officer says that the RSF have no ‘real control’ over their fighters.

Journalist and political analyst Ashraf Abdelaziz told Radio Dabanga that on Wednesday, “fighting was reported in El Mohandiseen in Omdurman, on Sitteen Street in Khartoum and also in El Mansoura, where one civilian was killed and seven others were wounded.”

Several areas under control of the RSF, especially in the area east of the Halfaya Bridge in Khartoum North (Bahri) were bombed on Wednesday.

“There were also reports about clashes in the area of the Yarmouk military complex in El Shajara in south-west Khartoum,” he said.

The journalist as well reported “a dire lack of medicines in Khartoum and serious problems with food supplies”.

On Thursday, the Civil Aviation Authority in Sudan extended the closure of airspace to all air traffic until June 30.

The extension excludes humanitarian aid shipments and evacuation flights.

Truces

Abdelaziz further spoke about “desperate attempts by affiliates of the former Al Bashir regime to hinder any meeting between El Burhan and Hemedti, as proposed by IGAD earlier this week.”  He said that groups of RSF supporters as well refute a meeting, as this can be seen as a victory of the army”.

The journalist called for more pressure to hold this meeting “because it may help to fight the humanitarian catastrophe to which Sudanese citizens are now being exposed”.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) summit, held in Djibouti on Monday, proposed a meeting between Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and RSF leader Lt Gen Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, in one of the IGAD countries, to reach a new ceasefire for the facilitation of the delivery of more humanitarian aid.

‘Lack of control’

Retd Maj Gen Ahmed Ibrahim attributed the failure of previous truces between the army and RSF to the lack of the latter’s “real command and control over its personnel”.

He told Radio Dabanga that “the crimes committed by the RSF against civilians in Khartoum and a number of Darfur cities confirms this lack of control.”

The former army officer accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of arming, training, and financing the RSF. “The UAE has interests in the Red Sea and expects to achieve these through the RSF,” he said.

He further said that there are no indications of an Egyptian intervention “despite its well-known interests in Sudan” and warned of the importance of Sudan in the conflict between Russia and China in Africa.