At least 56 civilians were killed in Saturday’s clashes between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Concerns are rising for a new civil war in Sudan. Tensions have risen between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary RSF in recent months. The idea was that the RSF, which fought side by side with the Sudanese army to overthrow the dictatorship in 2019, would be incorporated into the regular army. It hasn’t happened. Fighting in several cities On Saturday morning, fighting broke out as the RSF claimed control of an airport, the presidential palace and several other places in the country – something the regular army said was not true. During Saturday, hundreds were injured and at least 56 people were killed in the fighting. The Swedish Foreign Ministry advises against travel to the country. UN hopeful in January In Sudan, there has been a struggle for democracy since the strong protests against the military dictatorship in 2019, which later led to a fragile transitional government made up of half military representatives and half politicians. In January of this year, the UN welcomed that Sudan had taken “the last step” towards a democracy with civilian representatives. The military part was supposed to be phased out, but instead the army and the RSF are now fighting for power. The brothers in arms who turned The main characters in the conflict are the leader of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the leader of the paramilitary RSF: Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo. They overthrew the dictatorship together in 2019, but not as part of a democracy struggle but to overthrow the dictator. When the demonstrations raged against the military dictatorship, both military groups were helped to suppress them with violence and in some cases torture and rape, something that has come to be known as the Khartoum Massacre.
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