ZIVERT Posted April 15, 2023 Posted April 15, 2023 (edited) Quote April 15 (Reuters) - Violence erupted between Sudan's main paramilitary group and the armed forces on Saturday in an apparent struggle for control against the backdrop of the country's halting moves toward elections after a military coup. Amid conflicting reports from the two sides, the army rejected assertions by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that they had seized the presidential palace, army chief's residence and airports in Khartoum and the northern city of Merowe. Doctors confirmed three deaths but said many more civilians had been killed and wounded in the clashes that shook residential neighbourhoods of the capital. Fighting was also taking place at the headquarters of Sudan's state TV, according to an on-air anchor… Army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan told Al Jazeera TV that the RSF should back down: "We think if they are wise they will turn back their troops that came into Khartoum. But if it continues we will have to deploy troops into Khartoum from other areas." The armed forces said on Facebook it would not negotiate with the RSF unless the paramilitary force dissolved. The RSF leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, called Burhan a "criminal" and a "liar". The military and RSF have been competing for power as political factions negotiate forming a transitional government. "We know where you are hiding and we will get to you and hand you over to justice, or you die just like any other dog," he said in an interview with the station... The clashes follow rising tensions over the RSF's integration into the military. The disagreement has delayed the signing an internationally backed agreement with political parties on a transition to democracy. Civilian forces that signed a draft version of that agreement in December called on Saturday for an immediate halt to hostilities by both the army and the RSF, to stop Sudan sliding towards "the precipice of total collapse". "This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country," they said in a statement. "This is a war that no one will win, and that will destroy our country forever." The RSF accused the army of carrying out a plot by loyalists of former strongman President Omar Hassan al-Bashir - who was ousted in a coup in 2019 - and attempting a coup itself. A 2021 coup ousted the country's civilian prime minister. Source The videos in this thread are crazy. I hate to see all this fighting everywhere. Praying for the people of Sudan! Edited April 15, 2023 by ZIVERT
ClashAndBurn Posted April 16, 2023 Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) Might be another US-backed coup. Blinken tweeted this just a few days ago: Generally American foreign affairs officials put out statements like this when their CIA operatives are on the ground trying to foment political violence abroad. Apparently this is about the Sudanese government granting Russia permission to dock on their coasts and build a naval base in the Red Sea. Edited April 16, 2023 by ClashAndBurn
ZIVERT Posted April 16, 2023 Author Posted April 16, 2023 7 hours ago, ClashAndBurn said: Might be another US-backed coup. Blinken tweeted this just a few days ago: Generally American foreign affairs officials put out statements like this when their CIA operatives are on the ground trying to foment political violence abroad. Apparently this is about the Sudanese government granting Russia permission to dock on their coasts and build a naval base in the Red Sea. …back to reality, this coup was about the regular military trying to incorporate the Rapid Support Forces into itself, rather than having two separate military forces. The RSF resisted this, and attacked military and government structures yesterday. Sudan has been run by a military general since its last coup in 2021, and was aiming to have democratic elections within a 2-year timeframe (with the RSF integrating into the regular military being key to this transition). However, the RSF was against this and wanted to have elections within a 10-year period. The Sudanese people have been protesting for civilian control of the government ever since the 2021 coup, while the RSF believe the 2021 coup was a mistake. Hence the RSF launching a new coup attempt yesterday. The RSF was established by the former dictator of Sudan, who unleashed them in Darfur and had them commit war crimes against non-Arab ethnic minorities. The RSF also has experience fighting in Yemen on the Saudi/UAE side. But the military has control of the air force, so this coup attempt was never going to get far. The initial agreement with Russia about ports was made while the former dictator al-Bashir was in power. The RSF supported this deal because of their loyalty to the former government, while the post-coup government wanted to “review” it and declined it. The only international group supporting the RSF would be the Russian government, who are against democracy and support genocide. But as we continue to see on the global stage, Russian meddling continuously fails at accomplishing anything other than creating violence and death.
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