According to Reuters, RSF said in a statement that it took control of the presidential palace and Khartoum airport in response to the army’s attacks. Flight data shows planes turned around after almost landing at the airport.
Concerns have grown in the large African country this week since the army criticized that the RSF established a military presence in more places in the country.
It is about a split between the two parallel military powers that have developed in Sudan.
John Godfrey, the US ambassador in Khartoum, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he woke up to the sound of gunfire and explosions. The embassy staff are now taking shelter inside the embassy, he writes. The ambassador believes that the escalation of violence is extremely dangerous and calls on senior military leaders to stop the fighting.
The RSF (Rapid Support Forces) was formed from the Janjawid militias, which the country’s then leader Omar al-Bashir sent out to spread terror in Darfur in western Sudan in the 2000s.
Since then, the force has operated in parallel with the army, and they cooperated on it coup as in October 2021 overthrew the country’s democratically elected government.
But the latest split is raising fears of another civil war.
