Sudan’s Capital Hit By Blasts
Contexts:
An ongoing power battle between the forces of Army head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who is in charge of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned brutally violent on Saturday.
Points to Ponder:
- Explosions have shaken the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum as a deadly battle between the forces of two generals continues.
- Power struggles between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the army, and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who took over in a coup in 2021, set off the conflict.
- The fights have been fought all over the nation and have involved heavy gunfire, artillery, and air strikes.
- The immediate cessation of hostilities has been demanded at the G-7 Foreign Ministers conference in Japan.
- Over 185 people have died and 1,800 have been injured as of right now, but the actual death toll is likely considerably higher because many injured people can’t get to hospitals because of the shelling.
- The RSF, led by Gen. Daglo, has declared a 24-hour armistice to ensure the evacuation of the wounded and the safe passage of people, but the Army has rejected the announcement.
Background:
- The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, two competing groups of the military administration in Sudan, started fighting on April 15, 2023.
- Airstrikes, artillery, and intense gunfire were used in the conflict in several areas throughout Sudan, including the Darfur region and the capital city of Khartoum.
- At least 188 fatalities from the fighting were documented as of April 18, 2023.
- Ethnic rivalries, religious disagreements, and rivalry for resources have been recurring themes in Sudan’s warring history. More than fifteen military takeovers have taken place in Sudan, and the military has dominated government for the majority of the country’s time as a republic.
- Omar al-Bashir, a former president, is accused of war crimes and genocide for overseeing a civil war in the country’s west and state-sponsored carnage in the Darfur region.
- Al-Bashir was overthrown in a coup in 2019, and a transitional combined civilian-military unity government was established. But in October 2021, al-Burhan and the RSF’s Dagalo organised another coup in which the military took control.
- The junta agreed to cede power to a civilian-led administration, but disagreements between generals Burhan and Dagalo prevented the official agreement from being signed on April 6, 2023, as planned.
- The Indian diaspora, whose lives are in peril, is one of the communities affected by these military actions.
