SUDAN CIVIL WAR THREATENS TO SPILL OVER ITS BORDERS – 18 months after taking over Sudan in a military coup, the two Generals that led the coup are now vying for supreme power. The war is for control of the country by either the General of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the General of the Army, Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan. Now the fighting is leading border countries like Chad and Libya to shut their borders down for fear of seeing the fighting spill into their countries.
The United States has evacuated its embassy, as have most other nations. Control for the capitol of Khartoum rages on, with the state media center switching hands at least twice so far in the fighting. The number of killed has not been generally reported, but it appears to be at least in the hundreds, so far, with no hope of a cease fire on the horizon.
The war began after the power-sharing agreement reached in 2021 broke down. Dagalo wants to integrate his paramilitary group, the RSF, into the regular army gradually, over the course of a decade. While al-Burhan wants a more rapid integration into the regular army he controls.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted about the conflict, “Deeply concerned about reports of escalating violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces. We are in touch with the Embassy team in Khartoum – all are currently accounted for. We urge all actors to stop the violence immediately and avoid further escalations…”
A UN envoy, Volker Perthes, said “The two sides who are fighting are not giving the impression that they want mediation for a peace between them right away.”
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