Sudan updates: Explosions, shooting rock Khartoum

Sudanese air force has called on citizens to stay indoors as they conduct a full aerial survey of areas of RSF activity, according to a statement on the armed forces Facebook page.

Khartoum resident Bakry, 24, who works in marketing, said the capital had “never seen anything” like this unrest, which left dark smoke hanging over the capital.

“People were terrified and running back home. The streets emptied very quickly as everyone wanted to leave their homes and find shelter,” Bakry, who gave only a first name, told the AFP news agency.

Sudan’s armed forces have dismissed any possibility of negotiations or dialogue with the RSF.

There will be “no negotiations or dialogue until the dissolution of the paramilitary RSF”, the armed forces said on its Facebook page.

Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have discussed the current situation in Sudan through a phone call, according to the Saudi state news agency.

The ministers called for a halt to military escalation and a return to a framework agreement between civilian political forces and the military in Sudan, the agency added.

Egypt’s military is closely following the situation in Sudan and is coordinating with the relevant Sudanese authorities to guarantee the safety of Egyptian forces, according to army spokesman Colonel Gharib Abdel Hafez.

His statement came as Sudan’s paramilitary RSF shared a video that they said showed Egyptian troops who had “surrendered” to them in Merowe, northern Sudan.

International Crisis Group’s Alan Boswell has said that the roots of the current crisis go back to the period of President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for about 30 years before he was overthrown through mass protests in 2019.

“Near the end of his time in power, the Sudanese security forces have grown very fragmented which weakened the army quite a bit,” he told Al Jazeera from Doha, adding that the army included lots of tribal militias.

“He essentially did what is called coup-proofing, in which he was concerned that any security institution would challenge him that he allowed the proliferation of different armed groups and centres within the country,” Boswell said.

He concluded that essentially the two main actors, the RSF and the army, turned against each other after colluding for four years after the removal of Bashir.

The African Union has called for an “urgent” ceasefire in a news statement.

“Today, when things have gone dangerously out of control and resort to armed violence has prevailed as a way of resolving political disputes, the President of the Commission of the African Union makes a fervent appeal to all parties, armed forces and [RSF], in particular, to immediately cease the destruction of the country, the panic of the populations and the bloodbaths of innocent people in the last 10 days of holy month of Ramadan,” it said.

Urgent appel pour un cessez- le feu au Soudan https://t.co/pHcG00U63n pic.twitter.com/1zztP3XFek

— African Union (@_AfricanUnion) April 15, 2023

Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has told Al Jazeera that the RSF attacked his residence at the army headquarters around 9am local time (07:00 GMT).

“And that’s when things got out of hand between the two sides,” Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reported.

The RSF has shared a video that it says shows Egyptian troops who had “surrendered” to them in Merowe, northern Sudan.

There was no clear explanation for the presence of Egyptian troops in Merowe, but Egyptian and Sudanese troops have periodically staged joint military exercises in the north of the country in the wake of diplomatic tensions with Ethiopia.

The video showed a number of men dressed in army fatigues crouched on the ground and speaking to members of the RSF in an Egyptian Arabic dialect to troops in RSF uniforms.

Reuters could not immediately verify the footage and Egyptian authorities did not immediately make any public comment on the matter.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has called on the Sudanese leadership to restrain their troops and deescalate after paramilitaries clashed with the army in an apparent coup attempt.

“The ongoing violence across Sudan must stop immediately,” Cleverly said on Twitter. “The UK calls on the Sudanese leadership to do all they can to restrain their troops and deescalate to prevent further bloodshed.

“Military action will not resolve this situation.”

Mohamed Alamin Ahmed, a military analyst, has told Al Jazeera from Khartoum that the RSF had the upper hand in the first hours of the clashes.

“They actually took over the airport and the presidential palace and they were about to take over the house of Burhan,” he said.

Ahmed said that the army later countered the attacks with air raids and contained the situation, balancing the power.

He added that the RSF has no air forces and is stronger on the ground with a large number of fighters.

Residents have documented the exchange of fire in the Mohandessin area of ​​Omdurman, located across the Nile river from the capital Khartoum.

Chad’s government has closed its border with Sudan and has called for calm.

“Chad appeals to the regional and international community as well as to all friendly countries to prioritise a return to peace,” it said in a statement.

Its 1,403km (872-mile) border with Sudan will remain closed until further notice, it said.

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said gunfire can still be heard around the capital.

“The gunfire coming from the presidential palace died out,” she said. “It means that either the RSF or the Sudanese army is in control, but we are not sure yet who is in control of the presidential palace,” Morgan said, adding that the facility has a symbolic significance.

She also said clashes are continuing around the location of state TV in Khartoum.

A Saudi Arabian airlines plane at Sudan’s Khartoum airport came under fire during clashes, the state-owned carrier has said.

It said it had moved its passengers, crew and staff from the airport to the Saudi embassy in Khartoum.

Rival carrier Saudia said separately that it had suspended flights to and from Sudan until further notice.

RSF’s General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo says the current battle will pave the way to a peaceful solution and all criminals will stand trials.

“I cannot give a time limit to the fighting; however, we are adamant to end it with the least of losses,” he told Al Jazeera.

“I assure you that units from the armed forces have joined our ranks in Merowe; many other units have surrendered,” the general added.

“Al-Burhan is a criminal; he is a liar, circulating false rumours and no one should listen to him.”

Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has called for Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, army commanders and RSF leaders to stop the fighting immediately.

“The bullet, when it escapes from the weapon, will not differentiate between the aggressor and the non-aggressor, and the victims are the Sudanese,” Hamdok said in a video posted on his Facebook account.

“I demand al-Burhan, the army commanders, and the RSF leaders to stop the bullets immediately and for the voice of reason to rule. There is no victor over the corpses of its people.”

He called on the international community “to fulfil their duty to resolve and calm the warring parties”.

Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has told Al Jazeera in a recorded phone call that the army is in control of the presidential palace, the military headquarters and the airport.

Al-Burhan’s comments followed a live phone interview Al Jazeera aired with the RSF commander, who said his forces had seized the presidential palace, the army chief’s residence and Khartoum international airport.

Cameron Hudson, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, has said that a part of the democratic transition Sudan is trying to go through is security sector reform.

“There has been more intensive process over the last month or two to try to mediate some kind of outcome between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces to figure out the future dispensation of Sudan’s security forces,” he told Al Jazeera.

Hudson said that tense talks, mounting tensions and troop deployments led to the current outcome, which is not surprising for anyone closely following the developments in the country.

“Washington is at a better place than anyone to try to intervene and mediate but what we are seeing right now is that those messages fall into deaf ears,” he added.

Saudi Arabia’s national carrier says it has suspended all flights to and from troubled Sudan “until further notice” after one of its aircraft had an incident at Khartoum airport before take-off.

The airline did not clarify if the incident resulted from an eruption of violence between the Sudanese army and its paramilitary rival, the RSF.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s state carrier, EgyptAir, has announced halting flights to and from Khartoum airport for 72 hours starting from Saturday due to the “instable security situation in Sudan”, a neighbour of Egypt.

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said fighting continues in the Sudanese capital despite the calls for de-escalation.

“We can hear heavy artillery being fired in various parts of the capital Khartoum. You can see smoke rising in the northern and western parts of the capital,” she said.

Morgan said that clashes for the control of various airports had intensified across the country, as well as at other key facilities.

“Both sides are trying to control the airports because they will be major supply routes for whoever manages to control them.”

The United Arab Emirates has called all parties in Sudan to exercise restraint, de-escalate and work towards ending the crisis through dialogue, the state news agency has reported.

The agency said that the UAE embassy in Khartoum was following “with great concern the developments in Sudan and has reaffirmed the UAE’s position on the importance of de-escalation, and working towards finding a peaceful solution to the crisis between the concerned parties”.

Egypt has called on all Sudanese parties to exercise maximum restraint amid clashes between the army and the RSF.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement said Egypt is following the developments of the situation in Sudan with great concern.

It called on all parties in Sudan to exercise maximum restraint in order to “protect the lives and capabilities of the brotherly Sudanese people, and uphold the supreme interests of the homeland”.

Russia says it is deeply concerned by escalating violence in Sudan and called for an urgent ceasefire.

“We urge the parties to the conflict to demonstrate political will and restraint and to take immediate steps towards a ceasefire,” the Russian Ministryof Foreign Affairs said in a statement calling for negotiations.

Russia said its embassy in the capital Khartoum was continuing to function, under heightened security measures. No Russian citizens were hurt during clashes in the African country, it said.

Violent clashes in Sudan between the army and paramilitary groups must end “immediately”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

The top US diplomat said he is “deeply concerned” about the reports of fighting. He said US embassy staff in the capital Khartoum are all “currently accounted for”.

“We urge all actors to stop the violence immediately and avoid further escalations or troop mobilisations and continue talks to resolve outstanding issues,” he tweeted from Hanoi, Vietnam, where he is passing through on his way to a Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan.