Sudan Ruling Council Declares Rival Faction ‘Rebels’, Battles Unrelenting

Smoke billows above residential buildings in Khartoum on April 16, 2023, as fighting in Sudan raged for a second day in battles between rival generals. (AFP)
Smoke billows above residential buildings in Khartoum on April 16, 2023, as fighting in Sudan raged for a second day in battles between rival generals. (AFP)
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Sudan Ruling Council Declares Rival Faction ‘Rebels’, Battles Unrelenting

Smoke billows above residential buildings in Khartoum on April 16, 2023, as fighting in Sudan raged for a second day in battles between rival generals. (AFP)
Smoke billows above residential buildings in Khartoum on April 16, 2023, as fighting in Sudan raged for a second day in battles between rival generals. (AFP)

Sudan's army chief branded the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battling the army as a rebel group on Monday, in a deadly power struggle that has derailed a shift to civilian rule, led to UN calls to stop fighting and raised fears of a wider conflict.

The rupture between the army and the paramilitary RSF has killed at least 97 civilians and 45 soldiers according to a medics' group, with airstrikes and fighting in the capital and strife spilling across Sudan.

Both sides claimed they made gains on Monday as smoke hung over the capital Khartoum and residents reported a clamor of airstrikes, artillery fire and shooting that cut off basic services and damaged hospitals in a city unused to violence.

Television images from the international airport inside the city showed a raging fire with plumes of black smoke, and satellite images showed damaged planes.

The fighting in Khartoum and its adjoining sister cities of Omdurman and Bahri since Saturday is the worst in decades and risks tearing Sudan between two military factions that had shared power during a rocky political transition.

Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan heads a ruling council installed after a 2021 coup and the 2019 ousting of veteran president Omar al-Bashir during mass protests. RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, is his deputy.

Under an internationally backed transition plan, the RSF was shortly due to merge with the army. Burhan on Monday ordered the group to be dissolved as the two sides exchanged bitter accusations.

In comments to Sky News, Burhan said he was secure in a presidential guesthouse within the defense ministry compound. He said his goal was to defeat the RSF, but did not rule out some form of negotiation.

"Every war ends at the negotiation table even if the opponent is defeated," Burhan said.

RSF leader Hemedti, whose whereabouts since Saturday are unknown, called for the international community to take action against what he called Burhan's crimes. In a tweet, he called the army chief "a radical Islamist who is bombing civilians from the air".

There was no sign on Monday that either side was willing to back down. While the army is larger, and has air power, the RSF is widely deployed inside neighborhoods of Khartoum and other cities, making it hard for either side to secure a quick victory.

Fighting between the sides in Darfur has meanwhile raised the specter of renewed conflict in the western region that from 2003 was plagued by years of bloody warfare that killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million.

Hospitals damaged

Offices, schools and petrol stations in the capital were shut on Monday, while health services were widely disrupted and four major hospitals said they had been damaged and two were out of action due to the clashes.

The bridges linking Khartoum with Omdurman and Bahri across the Nile River's two main branches were blocked by armored vehicles and some roads leading from the capital were impassable.

With water and power services also cut across large parts of the capital, some residents were venturing out to buy food, forming long queues at bakeries.

There has been no police presence on the streets of Khartoum since Saturday and witnesses reported cases of looting.

"We're scared our store will be looted because there's no sense of security," said Abdalsalam Yassin, 33, a shopkeeper who had bought in extra stock ahead of the coming Eid al-Fitr Holiday.

UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the outbreak of fighting and urged a return to calm, saying an already precarious humanitarian situation was now catastrophic.

The RSF claimed it had captured an airport and military bases, while the military said it was in control of its headquarters despite what it called "limited clashes" in the vicinity. Reuters verified video showing RSF forces in some of those locations but could not verify battlefield claims.

The army regained control of the main television station, which briefly went off air after gunfire was heard during a live broadcast. The station began broadcasting videos showing the army destroying RSF vehicles, a day after the RSF said it had taken over the building.

Power struggle

The eruption of fighting over the weekend followed rising tensions over the RSF's integration into the military.

Discord over the timetable for that process delayed the signing of the framework deal to launch a civilian transition that was due to be signed earlier this month.

It comes four years after Bashir was toppled, and nearly two years after a military coup.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an immediate ceasefire was needed and that the fighting potentially posed a threat to the wider region. Germany called on both sides to de-escalate.

In Darfur, residents said fighting continued. "It's calmer than yesterday but there was heavy artillery in the morning," said Mohamed, a doctor in El Fasher in North Darfur.

In Nyala, the region's biggest city, a member of a monitoring group said people were terrified. "We see men on motorcycles and they have been going into people's homes, stealing cars, going into buildings, and going into NGOs and looting," he said.



Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: Egypt to Counter Any Threat to Its Water Security 

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). (Getty Images/AFP file)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). (Getty Images/AFP file)
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Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: Egypt to Counter Any Threat to Its Water Security 

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). (Getty Images/AFP file)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). (Getty Images/AFP file)

Egypt has warned it will take “necessary measures” to protect its historical rights to Nile waters, following new statements by Ethiopian officials that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is only the beginning of a wider dam-building plan.

A senior Egyptian official, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said Cairo remains committed to securing a binding agreement that regulates current and future projects on the Nile and its tributaries.

“Egypt will act to safeguard its water security in line with international law and treaties governing transboundary rivers,” the official said.

“We have always known Ethiopia has broader ambitions beyond the GERD. That’s why we’ve insisted from the beginning on a binding agreement, not only to limit the harm from GERD but to regulate any future projects as well.”

He added that Egypt considers Nile water a matter of national survival and would “resist any threat with full force.” Cairo is closely monitoring whether Ethiopia’s new dam plans will involve the Nile or other river systems, he said. “Each case will be assessed accordingly.”

The comments came after Ethiopia’s GERD Coordination Office head, Aregawi Berhe, told local media on Wednesday that the dam was “only the first step” in the country’s strategy for water and energy development.

“We cannot rely on just one dam,” he said, calling for additional projects to support agriculture, which he described as the backbone of Ethiopia’s economy and food security.

Berhe also said the GERD was built entirely with domestic funding, pushing back on earlier remarks by US President Donald Trump suggesting American financial involvement.

'Vital lifeline’

Egyptian lawmaker Mostafa Bakry described the Ethiopian statements as “provocative” and accused Addis Ababa of seeking to impose a fait accompli, despite ongoing deadlock over the GERD negotiations.

“Ethiopia is treating the GERD as a closed chapter and is now openly discussing what comes next,” Bakry said. “Cairo has known from the start that Ethiopia wants to build dozens of dams under the pretext of development and agriculture. But the real goal is to control the river and limit Egypt’s water supply.”

“This is an existential matter for Egypt,” he warned. “We will not tolerate threats to our survival. Ethiopia must reconsider its course before the situation escalates.”

Ethiopia’s latest declarations come amid renewed international attention on the Nile dispute, following comments by Trump expressing concern over the dam’s potential impact on Egypt. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed the remarks and reiterated his country’s reliance on US mediation to broker a final agreement.

Earlier this month, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the completion of GERD construction and set September as the date for its official inauguration, inviting Egypt and Sudan to attend. Cairo swiftly rejected the call, denouncing what it sees as Ethiopia’s continued unilateralism on Nile issues.

Skepticism

Egyptian water and Africa expert Dr. Raafat Mahmoud dismissed Ethiopia’s justification that future dams would support agriculture. “Most of Ethiopia’s terrain is unsuitable for conventional irrigation. It’s a rugged highland that relies on rainfall,” he said. “Even GERD was completed with great difficulty and at high financial cost. Additional dams will face the same hurdles.”

He argued that Ethiopia’s ambitions are driven less by development and more by geopolitical aspirations. “This is about positioning itself as a regional power and countering Egypt’s influence in Africa. It’s also part of a broader effort to gain access to the Red Sea and build a naval presence there.”

Still, Mahmoud said Egypt is unlikely to take immediate action unless a direct threat to its water supply materializes. “As long as there’s no measurable harm, Cairo will likely stick to diplomacy. But under international law, it reserves the right to act if its vital interests are jeopardized.”

He added that many of Addis Ababa’s announcements are aimed more at domestic audiences than at regional planning. “These public statements are often designed to rally Ethiopian citizens, even when they don’t reflect the realities on the ground.”