War erupts in Sudan between army and Rapid Support Forces

Fighting began on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Gunfire, airstrikes and clashes erupted in Khartoum and spread to other regions as forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo competed for control.

The two organizations had cooperated in the 2019 removal of Omar al-Bashir and the 2021 coup that disrupted a civilian transition. Tensions intensified over command arrangements and the timetable for integrating the RSF into the regular military. That context helps explain the confrontation without reducing it to a personal dispute between two commanders.

Both sides made competing claims about who fired first and who controlled strategic sites. Early battlefield statements were difficult to verify. International humanitarian law applies regardless of initiation, and allegations of attacks on civilians, sexual violence and ethnic killing require evidence tied to perpetrators and locations.

The conflict rapidly damaged hospitals, water and electricity systems and displaced people within Sudan and across borders. Darfur experienced especially grave violence rooted in both the new war and earlier patterns. Casualty and displacement totals changed continually as access remained limited.

This item records the transition from political-military tension to open armed conflict. Ceasefire announcements, evacuation operations and later atrocities are distinct developments. It avoids describing the entire Sudanese population through the belligerents and keeps civilian democratic groups separate from forces claiming national authority.