Clashes intensified between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan on Tuesday, as the war in the country’s capital and western regions entered its 12th week.
Clashes were reported in the vicinity of the Central Reserve Police headquarters and the state television building in Omdurman city, west of Khartoum. Military aircraft were seen flying in the area.
The RSF said it shot down an army plane and a drone in Bahri, Sudan’s Army has not commented on the latest RSF claims
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that the conflict has displaced more than 2.5 million people.
Several cease-fire initiatives mediated by Saudi and US mediators had failed to halt the fighting between the two military rivals.
A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the RSF over the group’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan’s transition agreement with political groups.
Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup.”
Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.