The US ambassador and embassy staff in Sudan have been forced to take cover as the country’s military and a powerful paramilitary group exchange gunfire in the capital Khartoum.
The British Embassy has also advised all British nationals to stay indoors, after heavy fighting broke out on Saturday between the army and the Rapid Support Forces militia.
The RSF said they had taken control of the presidential palace, the residence of army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Khartoum’s international airport, where fighting continues and leaves the country isolated.
Clashes have also been reported in other towns in what is apparently a coup attempt by the militia, which claims the army attacked it first.
John Godfrey, US Ambassador to Sudan, tweeted: “I just arrived late last night in Khartoum and woke up to the deeply disturbing sound of gunfire and fighting.
“I am currently hosted there with the embassy team, as are the Sudanese in Khartoum and elsewhere.
Smoke rises over Khartoum on Saturday amid clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces militia
US Ambassador John Godfrey tweeted that he and his staff at the Khartoum embassy were sheltering in place
Army soldiers are rolling out in Khartoum amid reported clashes in the city. Sudanese paramilitaries said they controlled several key sites
The British Embassy in Sudan said “we advise all British nationals in Sudan to stay indoors”.
“We are closely monitoring the situation in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan where military clashes continue.”
The Russian embassy in the country also expressed concern about “the escalation of violence” and called for a ceasefire.
The sounds of heavy gunfire could be heard in a number of areas of the capital, including central Khartoum and the Bahri district.
Elsewhere, eyewitnesses reported clashes between military and paramilitary forces in the North Darfur state capital, El Fasher.
The RSF also claimed to have seized an airport and air base in the northern town of Marawi, about 215 miles northwest of Khartoum.
In a statement, the RSF militia accused the army of attacking its forces at one of its bases south of Khartoum.
In a separate statement on Saturday, the Sudanese army said fighting broke out after RSF troops grew tired of attacking its forces in the south of the capital.
Heavy gunfire erupted on Saturday amid simmering tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces militia. Pictured: Smoke rises above buildings in Khartoum
Sudanese paramilitaries said on April 15 that the regular army had entered their camps south of Khartoum and besieged the paramilitary forces there.
In a later statement, the army called the RSF a “rebel force”, calling the paramilitary statements “lies”.
The Sudanese air force is carrying out operations to confront the RSF, the army said, as videos of military aircraft emerged over the capital.
In their statement, the RSF said they had been contacted by three former rebel leaders who hold government posts with the apparent aim of defusing the conflict.
Television images emerging from the country show smoke rising from buildings in the capital and elsewhere, including at a military camp in Merowe, 200 miles north of Khartoum.
People walk past a military vehicle in Khartoum amid clashes in the city
The clashes come as hostility between the army and the RSF has escalated in recent months, forcing the delay in signing an internationally-backed agreement with political parties to relaunch the country’s democratic transition.
The tensions stem from a disagreement over how the RSF should be integrated into the army and who should oversee the process.
The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition deal.
However, the army-RSF rivalry dates back to the reign of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, ousted in 2019.
Under the former president, the RSF paramilitary force, led by powerful general Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (pictured), emerged from former militias
Speaking on State News earlier this week, Army spokesman Brig. Nabil Abdullah read statement warning of conflict after paramilitary forces deployed in capital and other towns
Under the former president, the paramilitary force, led by powerful general Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, emerged from former militias, known as the Janjaweed, which carried out a brutal crackdown in Sudan’s Darfur region during decades of conflict .
In a rare televised address on Thursday, a senior army general warned of potential clashes with the RSF, accusing it of deploying forces in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan without the army’s consent .
Sudanese civil parties who had signed an initial power-sharing agreement with the two groups have now called on them to cease hostilities.
Dagalo, the powerful leader of the RSF militia, greets his supporters during a rally in 2019
Civil parties also urged international and regional actors to urgently help stop the bloodshed.
Commercial planes trying to land at Khartoum International Airport have started to turn around to fly back to their airport of origin.
Flights from Saudi Arabia have been turned back after nearly landing at Khartoum International Airport, flight tracking data showed on Saturday.