The paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR) said Saturday that they control the Presidential Palace where the president of the Sovereign Council and military leader, Abdel Fattah al Burhan, resides, although his fate is unknown.

The units, led by the deputy chairman of the Sovereign Council and number two in the army, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias "Hemedti", said this comes in response to the "attack launched this morning by the Armed Forces" in southern Khartoum.

The FAR also said they control Khartoum's international airport, Sudan's largest, and other military bases in the country seized from the Sudanese army after clashes broke out this morning in what is a serious escalation in the country.

The FAR said in a statement that they managed to "expel the aggressors from the headquarters of the units in the Soba camps (south of Khartoum) and control the Khartoum airport."

These paramilitary units, led by the deputy chairman of the Sovereign Council and number two in the army, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias "Hemedti", said they responded to "hostile forces, inflicting heavy losses" and also taking "control of the airport and the Marawi base", in northern Sudan and on the border with Egypt.

"In this delicate circumstance in our nation's history, the Rapid Support Forces call on all citizens to support them and continue their efforts to protect the country's achievements, and the glorious and victorious revolution of its people," the statement said.

They also called on members of the Armed Forces to position themselves "correctly" and to refuse to be "used" by the Army.

An official of the Civil Aviation Authority, who requested anonymity, told EFE that air traffic was interrupted at the international airport and that the roads leading to the airfield were closed.

The FAR accused the Sudanese army of attacking one of its bases this morning in an action that it described as a "brutal attack" and called on the Sudanese people to unite in this "critical historical moment".

For its part, the Sudanese Armed Forces said in a statement that this morning's action came in response to an attack that had previously been committed by the FAR in Khartoum.

Faced with these serious events, the Embassy of Spain in Sudan urged all Spaniards to "stay in their homes, avoid unnecessary displacements and remain attentive to news from local authorities and this Embassy."

Two days ago, the Sudanese army warned that the country is going through a "dangerous juncture" that could lead to armed conflict after units of the FAR, Sudan's most powerful paramilitary group, were "mobilized" in the capital Khartoum and other cities.

"Hemedti" yesterday showed his willingness to seek a solution to the tension generated without there being "bloodshed, according to Sudanese officials who act as mediators between the military.

This mobilization took place in the midst of negotiations to reach a final political agreement that ends the 2021 coup and leads Sudan to a democratic transition, a pact whose signing has been postponed twice this April precisely because of tensions between the Army and the FAR.

The FAR emerged from the Janjawid militias, accused of committing crimes against humanity during the Darfur conflict (2003-2008).

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more