The World Briefly

April 27, 2023

Streets of Fire

Sudan

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Sudan’s army moved former President Omar al-Bashir and members of his former regime to a military hospital Wednesday after fighting between the army and paramilitary forces in the capital resulted in the release of thousands of detainees from Kober prison, which had held the deposed leader, the Guardian reported.

The relocation occurred amid ongoing skirmishes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that began about 10 days ago.

The battle reached Kober prison near Khartoum over the weekend, with police – who are aligned with the military – saying that RSF forces broke into the center and released all prisoners. The RSF countered that the military had “forcibly evacuated” the facility as part of a plan to restore Bashir to power.

The prison break underscores the violent instability in Sudan that began over disagreements between the head of the military, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF chief, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Both the military and the RSF cooperated in deposing Bashir from power following popular protests in 2019.

Although both the army and the RSF have attempted to present themselves as supporters of the pro-democracy movement in the country, which aims to reinstate its transition to civilian rule, they collaborated to overthrow civilian leaders in a coup less than two years ago.

The release of more than 25,000 convicted criminals exacerbated Khartoum’s increasing sense of lawlessness, with citizens reporting deteriorating security, rampant looting, and gangs roaming the streets, according to Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Bashir and some of his former officials are wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the western region of Darfur from 2003 to 2018.

This story originally appeared in the April 27, 2023 newsletter, More for Everyone.