# SAF–RSF fighting erupts in Khartoum Date: 2023 ## The fact On 15 April 2023, armed fighting erupted in Khartoum between units of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) loyal to [Abdel Fattah al-Burhan](/people/abdel-fattah-al-burhan) and units of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) loyal to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti). The United Nations Security Council issued press statement SC/15257 the same day, expressing deep concern over military clashes between SAF and RSF and urging the parties to cease hostilities and return to dialogue (https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15257.doc.htm). Reuters, reporting from Khartoum the same day, recorded gunfire and explosions across the capital, armoured vehicles on the streets, and competing claims over the presidential palace, army headquarters, state television, and Khartoum airport (https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/heavy-gunfire-heard-south-sudanese-capital-khartoum-witnesses-2023-04-15/). The UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson, also on 15 April, called on RSF and SAF leaders to cease hostilities and recorded that [António Guterres](/people/antonio-guterres) spoke to both commanders (https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135702). This Fact is that completed outbreak in the capital on that date. It is a recorded action. First-shot authorship is contested by the two commands. First-day casualty tallies from doctors’ groups, later UN figures, and later wire updates disagree; this page does not invent a unique integer or average those instruments. ## Context Sudan had been under a military-led transition after the 2019 ouster of [Omar al-Bashir](/people/omar-al-bashir) and the October 2021 coup. Burhan chaired the Sovereign Council. Hemedti, as RSF commander, was his deputy on that council. A framework deal with civilian parties had been delayed by a dispute over how and when RSF would integrate into SAF. Those talks are neighbouring. On the morning of 15 April 2023, fighting that residents and wires located first around military sites in Khartoum spread to the presidential palace, the army headquarters area, the state broadcaster, and Khartoum International Airport. RSF claimed to have seized several of those sites and airfields including Merowe, El Obeid, and El Fasher. SAF rejected those claims. Each side accused the other of firing first. Reuters quoted Burhan on Al Jazeera telling RSF to turn its troops back from Khartoum. The Associated Press and BBC recorded the same day’s street fighting and the same contested site claims (https://apnews.com/article/sudan-khartoum-firing-coup-deal-85464b8f9b7eaf1f7ec77eb7337d7881; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65284945). António Guterres, through his spokesperson, condemned the outbreak and spoke to Burhan and [Hemedti](/people/hemedti) on 15 April, and also to Egypt’s president and African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat. The AU Peace and Security Council, at its 1149th meeting on 16 April 2023, condemned the armed confrontation and demanded an immediate ceasefire (ReliefWeb republication of PSC/PR/COMM.1149: https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/communique-adopted-peace-and-security-council-psc-african-union-au-its-1149th-meeting-held-16-april-2023-briefing-situation-sudan). They corroborate that fighting had begun on 15 April. Live people referenced here, not minted: Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ; Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ; António Guterres. The attach path is the live driver [Hemedti RSF war](/drivers/hemedti-rsf-war). Keep 15 April 2023 Khartoum onset separate from the 3 June 2019 sit-in dispersal, from later Jeddah civilian-protection text, from El Geneina 2023 reporting, and from the 2024–2025 El Fasher siege-and-capture file. Those are other dates. RSF command can move columns into Khartoum. SAF command can order air activity over the capital. Neither office writes SC/15257, a Reuters dispatch, or an AU PSC communiqué. ## Evidence and sources UN Security Council / UN Meetings Coverage carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently. ## Significance The outbreak converted a stalled security-sector integration dispute into open war inside the capital. It is the dated start of the SAF–RSF war that subsequent humanitarian, atrocity, and mediation Facts inherit. Polarity lives on the attached path to hemedti-rsf-war: the completed capital fighting initiated and strengthened that driver. ## What is established and what is not Established: On 15 April 2023 SAF and RSF fought in Khartoum. The Security Council issued SC/15257 that day. Reuters recorded the fighting and contested control claims the same day. Guterres, through his spokesperson, called both commanders to cease hostilities. First-shot claims are contested. Doctors’ first-day tallies and later UN tallies are neighbouring and do not agree. What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions. The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit. Burhan commanded SAF. Guterres issued a same-day ceasefire call and spoke to both. Command of a force that fought in Khartoum is not authorship of the Security Council press statement.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies SAF–RSF fighting erupts in Khartoum, not a later speech about SAF–RSF fighting erupts in Khartoum. Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. SAF–RSF fighting erupts in Khartoum on 2023-04-15 is not a licence to treat every later UN Security Council / UN Meetings Coverage communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average SAF–RSF fighting erupts in Khartoum into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to Hemedti commanded RSF on 15 April 2023. Burhan commanded SAF. Guterres issued a same-day ceasefire call and spoke to both. Command of a force that fought in Khartoum is not authorship of the Security Council press statement. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. ## Drivers - Hemedti RSF war: https://factrail.ai/drivers/hemedti-rsf-war ## Sources - https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15257.doc.htm - https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/heavy-gunfire-heard-south-sudanese-capital-khartoum-witnesses-2023-04-15/ ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/sd-khartoum-fighting-onset-2023-04-15