What Started the Fighting in Sudan?

2023-04-18

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  • Over the weekend, fighting broke out between the armies of Sudan's two most powerful generals.
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  • Tensions had been rising for weeks between the armed forces chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
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  • Just 18 months earlier they worked together to overthrow the government as Sudan moved toward democracy.
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  • Both men each have tens of thousands of troops just in the capital of Khartoum.
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  • They have repeatedly said they will not negotiate nor stop fighting, even with rising international pressure.
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  • Here is a look at how Sudan, a country with 46 million people and a long history of military overthrows, reached this point.
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  • In recent months, negotiations had been under way to restart the change to a democratic political system.
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  • The process had been suspended since October 2021, when the government was overthrown.
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  • Under rising international pressure, the armed forces and the RSF signed a deal in December with pro-democracy and civilian groups.
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  • But the agreement left many important political issues unsettled.
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  • Tensions between Burhan and Dagalo worsened during long negotiations to reach a final agreement.
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  • A main dispute is over how the RSF would be mixed into the military and who would have control over fighters and weapons.
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  • Dagalo's RSF took strong action against tribal unrest and pro-democracy activists.
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  • But he claimed he was a supporter of the democratic transition.
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  • In March, he criticized Burhan, saying military leaders were unwilling to hand over power.
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  • Experts argued that Dagalo is trying to cover up the reputation of his paramilitary force.
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  • It had been accused of war crimes during the Darfur conflict.
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  • On Wednesday, the RSF began sending forces around the small town of Merowe, north of the capital.
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  • The town is important, with its large airport, central position and dam on the Nile River.
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  • The next day, the RSF also sent more forces into the capital and other areas of the country.
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  • On Saturday morning, fighting began at a military base south of Khartoum.
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  • Each side blamed the other for having started the violence.
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  • Since then, the military and the RSF have battled each other with heavy weapons in highly populated areas of the capital and the nearby city of Omdurman.
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  • By Monday, people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the fighting.
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  • An immediate ceasefire appears unlikely.
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  • Burhan and Dagalo have demanded that the other surrender.
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  • The fierce fighting also might make it harder for the two generals to return to negotiations.
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  • However, the military and the RSF both have foreign supporters, who all called for an immediate end to the fighting.
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  • The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to discuss Sudan on Monday.
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  • During the decades-long rule of dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was removed in 2019, Russia was a strong influence.
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  • At one point, Moscow reached an initial deal to build a naval base on Sudan's Red Sea cost.
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  • After al-Bashir's removal, the United States and European nations began competing with Russia for influence in Sudan.
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  • The country is rich in natural resources, including gold.
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  • Burhan and Dagalo have also made close ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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  • Sudanese troops from the military and the RSF have fought alongside the Saudi-led alliance in Yemen's civil war.
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  • Egypt also has deep ties with the Sudanese military.
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  • The two armies conduct regular war exercises, most recently this month.
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  • The military controls most of the country's economy.
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  • But the RSF runs major gold mining areas, an important source of money for the group.
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  • I'm Faith Pirlo.