CLASHES IN SUDAN CAUSE 400 VICTIMS

At least 400 people have died in the clashes that have been taking place for two weeks between the regular Sudanese army and the paramilitary forces belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed "Hemdti" Hamdan Dagalo.

Foreign expatriates have already begun to leave the country, while the United States has closed its embassy in Khartoum and evacuated staff.

The violence was triggered by disagreement over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government four years after the fall of authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir and two years after a military coup. Both sides accuse the other of thwarting the transition.

When fighting broke out on April 15, both sides blamed the other for provoking the violence. The army accused the RSF of illegal mobilisation in preceding days and the RSF, as it moved on key strategic sites in Khartoum, said the army had tried to seize full power in a plot with Bashir loyalists.

The protagonists in the power struggle are General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the army and leader of Sudan's ruling council since 2019, and his deputy on the council, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti.