Sudanese army chief orders disbanding of RSF: Khartoum
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The Sudanese army's commander-in-chief demands that the Rapid Support Forces disband in light of the latest clashes in the country.
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Smoke is seen rising from a neighborhood in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 15, 2023 (AP)
Chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese military Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan issued a decree to disband the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the General Intelligence Service said Saturday.
"The Commander-in-Chief has issued a decree to disband the Rapid Support Forces," Khartoum's top intelligence agency said on Twitter.
The RSF on Thursday reportedly carried out a sudden redeployment of its forces near the airport in Merowe, northern Sudan, with the Sudanese army responding by issuing a statement saying the redeployment was illegal and was not coordinated with Khartoum.
Clashes broke out earlier on Friday, culminating with the RSF claiming control of the Republican Palace in Khartoum and the airports in Khartoum and Merowe. The national army denied the presidential palace's takeover and said it was bombing RSF bases near Khartoum.
Explosions and gunfire were heard in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Saturday, AFP reported, while reports argued that clashes between the Sudanese military and the RSF erupted across the country's capital.
A statement by the RSF declared the group's control of the Presidential Palace, the guest house, Khartoum airports of Merowe and El Obeid, as well as a number of locations across the Sudanese states. The RSF also accused the Sudanese army of launching an attack using "heavy and light weapons" against one of its military bases in Khartoum earlier.
Read more: Sudan's Al-Burhan urges troops to back democratic transition
Moreover, armed confrontations broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF, which have resulted in the death of six civilians in Omdurman, Sudan's most populous city, a local hospital informed Russian news agency Sputnik.
The Sudanese city sits on the western bank of the Nile, directly opposite the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
It was revealed that the clashes between the army and the RSF have killed two people in the Khartoum Airport, with another getting killed in El Obeid.
"We have admitted six civilians killed in the shooting between the army and the RSF in several parts of Omdurman," the director of the Omdurman morgue, Jamal Youssef, said.
