Abstract
The warning signs were overt to analysts. Following the acrimony over Sudan’s transition to democracy, many had warned of an imminent clash between the government forces, known as Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a paramilitary group called Rapid Support Forces (RSF). On Saturday, 15 April, 2023, fighting erupted between army forces loyal to the leader of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also the commander of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Force (RSF). The Sovereign Council is a committee of military leaders governing Sudan that was formed in 2021 after Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan removed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and dissolved the Transition Sovereign Council that had been constituted in 2019, following the ouster of Sudan’s president Al-Bashir. Again, Sudan now stares at the possibility of another coup within a coup, being a third ouster in a span of less than four years.
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