Sudan’s army says thwarted RSF attempt to seize power amid renewed clashes

By Adel Abdel Rahim

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) – The Sudanese army said Saturday that it had thwarted a failed attempt by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to seize power.

“All attempts by the rebels and their agents from inside and outside the country to market their project that is based on deceiving people and falsifying facts had failed,” the army said in a statement.

The statement said army forces “are working to create the appropriate conditions so that state agencies can resume their work and life can return to normal as soon as possible."

There was no comment from the RSF on the army's statement.

This came as fresh clashes erupted on Saturday between army forces and RSF fighters in separate parts of the capital Khartoum despite a 3-day cease-fire.

Sporadic clashes and artillery shelling were reported near the army command in central Khartoum and in the southern parts of the capital, according to witnesses.

At least 512 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured in clashes between the army and its rival RSF paramilitary since the conflict began on April 15, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the paramilitaries over military security reform. The reform envisages full RSF participation in the military, one of the main issues in negotiations by international and regional parties for a transition to civilian, democratic rule in Sudan.

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, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara