In 2013, looking to protect himself from popular protest, Omar al-Bashir created a monster: Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces
Smoke rises over the city as army and paramilitaries clash in power struggle, in Khartoum (Reuters)
 

For months, the Sudanese people and those watching events in Sudan have feared this. And now, here it is: the worst has happened.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo are fighting on the streets of the country’s cities.

Having maintained a marriage of convenience since the military coup of October 2021, the military entities - which have different sources of power, income and regional support - have turned on each other. Sudan’s anti-democratic forces are at war and the people are once again caught in the crossfire, fearing for their lives as they seek shelter from the SAF’s jet fighters and the RSF’s artillery shells and anti-aircraft guns.

Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, is a city of ghosts. Its already fragile infrastructure is no more. Gangs roam the streets unchecked. Dagalo, better known as Hemeti, says he will hunt Burhan down "like a dog". Burhan says that "every war ends in negotiation, even if the opponent is defeated".

Where did this all start?

Almost 10 years ago, in the last week of September 2013, a wave of protests swept across Sudan after the country’s then-president, the Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir, announced an end to fuel subsidies and introduced other austerity measures.