New clashes registered in Khartoum despite the renewal of the ceasefire for 72 hours
1 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Sudanese Army has assured this Monday that it has “reduced” by about half “the combat capabilities” of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the start of the fighting, on April 15, hostilities that began They have resulted in hundreds of deaths.
The spokesman for the Sudanese Army, Nabil Abdalá, has indicated in a statement that “its combat capacity has been reduced between 45 and 55 percent” and has accused the RSF of “mobilizing to kidnap the Sudanese state and destroy to the Armed Forces.”
“The enemy mobilized in the capital to carry out the plan with enormous forces and great equipment that is equivalent to 27,135 combatants, 39,490 recruits, 1,950 combat vehicles, 104 armored vehicles and 171 artillery vehicles,” he explained.
Thus, he has stated that the Army has prevented the advances of the paramilitaries in various parts of Sudan and has emphasized that “the situation is stable in all the states”, after both parties agreed on a 72-hour extension of the ceasefire. fire.
“Our monitoring of the enemy’s movements confirms their continued attempts to strengthen their positions on the ground and our forces continue to face these movements resolutely,” Abdalá stressed.
On the other hand, he has lamented that “the country inherited a great burden from the strategic error of the late regime (of former President Omar Hasan al Bashir, overthrown in 2019) of forming the RSF militia.” “The Sudanese state now pays a heavy price for the sabotage of the country, the intimidation and looting of its citizens,” he has argued.
“We guarantee our citizens that we will not surrender until their aspirations are met,” said the Army spokesman, who stressed that “they will not allow the country to distort its military structure, except within the framework of the Armed Forces, regardless of however high the cost.
Despite the agreement to renew the ceasefire, this Monday morning was the scene of new exchanges of shots. A resident of the capital, Khartoum, has said in statements to the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera that “mortar and artillery fire can be heard.”
A journalist from the channel has highlighted that “the truce continues in force despite the sporadic military clashes” and has stated that a military plane has carried out a bombardment in Bahri, in the capital.
The hostilities broke out on April 15 in the context of an increase in tensions around the integration of the RSF –led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias ‘Hemedti’, who is also vice president of the Sovereign Transition Council– in the within the Armed Forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and reactivate the transition.
The talks process began with international mediation after the head of the Army and president of the Sovereign Transition Council, Abdelfatá al Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that overthrew the then prime minister of unity, Abdalá Hamdok, appointed to the charge as a result of contacts between civilians and the military after the April 2019 riot, which ended 30 years of Al Bashir’s regime.
