Al-Burhan fires Hemedti as VP as displaced Sudanese top 1 million
Some 843,000 have been internally displaced and 250,000 have fled across Sudanese borders since fighting broke out a month ago.
More than a million people have been displaced by five weeks of fighting in Sudan, including a quarter of a million refugees, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Sudan has been in the grip of violence since April 15, when disagreements between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, escalated into armed conflict. Hundreds of people have died in the fighting that has turned the streets of the capital Khartoum and other places in the country into war zones.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Matthew Saltmarsh, told reporters in Geneva on Friday that 843,000 people had so far been internally displaced as a result of the fighting.
About 250,000 others have fled across Sudan’s borders, mainly to Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan, Saltmarsh said, adding that Egypt has received the largest number of Sudanese refugees so far with about 110,000.
“Many of those who have approached us are in dire straits, exposed to violence or traumatic conditions in Sudan and have traveled arduous journeys,” Saltmarsh said. The pace has picked up in recent weeks, he said, with about 5,000 people arriving in Egypt every day.
The UN said on Wednesday that half of Sudan’s population is in need of humanitarian aid and that more than $3 billion will be needed this year alone to provide urgent aid in the country and to those fleeing across borders.
Al-Burhan and Hemedti held top positions in Sudan’s ruling council following the overthrow of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019. The two generals staged a military coup two years later, derailing Sudan’s fragile transition to democratic rule .
The fighting began after disputes over plans to integrate the RSF into the military and chain of command in a new political transition.
It has also spread to the western region of Darfur, killing hundreds of people. The rivalry between the military and the RSF has taken on an intercommunal dimension in the region, pitting Arab communities against non-Arab groups and reminiscent of a devastating war that broke out there in 2003.
Hemedti fired
Separately on Friday, al-Burhan, head of the ruling Sovereignty Council, issued a decree dismissing his deputy, Hemedti, with “immediate effect”.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reported from Omdurman, Khartoum’s sister city, that al-Burhan’s move appeared to be aimed at minimizing the strength and importance of his rival.
“People have been asking why it has taken so long to remove the vice president of the Sovereignty Council from this position, especially since the army chief has labeled the RSF as a rebel group since the beginning of the conflict,” she said.
“It appears he is trying to reduce the position and power of the RSF as negotiations continue [in the Saudi city of Jeddah] and while the fighting continues here in Sudan.”
Morgan went on to say that although Hemedti has been dismissed from his position, he is still a member of the Sovereignty Council.
“It seems more like an attempt to diminish Hemedti’s power and not to deny it completely,” she said.
The new decree came days after al-Burhan froze the bank accounts of the RSF and its affiliates.
He also replaced the central bank governor and dismissed four generals who had been temporarily transferred to the paramilitary forces.