Al-Burhan sacks Hemedti as VP as displaced Sudanese top 1 million

Some 843,000 are internally displaced and 250,000 have fled across Sudan’s borders since fighting broke out a month ago.

More than 1 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 plagued by violence since April 15, when disagreements between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) chief Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo escalated to become a conflict. armed conflict. Hundreds of people have been killed in the battles that have turned the streets of the capital Khartoum and other parts of the country into war zones.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Matthew Saltmarsh, said 843,000 people had been internally displaced so far due to the fighting.

Some 250,000 more have fled across Sudan’s borders, mainly into Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan, Saltmarsh said, adding that Egypt has so far received the largest number of Sudanese refugees with around 110,000.

“Many of those who have reached out to us are in a state of distress, having been exposed to violence or traumatic conditions in Sudan and having endured arduous journeys,” Saltmarsh said. The pace has picked up in recent weeks, he said, with some 5,000 people arriving in Egypt every day.

The UN said on Wednesday half of Sudan’s population needs humanitarian aid and more than $3 billion will be needed this year alone to provide urgent assistance inside the country and to those fleeing across its borders.

Al-Burhan and Hemedti held top seats in Sudan’s governing council after the longtime ruler was overthrown in 2019. Omar al-Bashir. 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 for the RSF to be absorbed into the army and up the chain of command in a new political transition.

It has also spread to the western region of Darfur, with hundreds of deaths. The rivalry between the army and the RSF has taken on an inter-communal dimension in the region, pitting Arab communities against non-Arab groups and reviving memories 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.”

Reporting from Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said al-Burhan’s move appeared to be aimed at downplaying his rival’s strength and importance.

“People have been wondering why it took so long to remove the vice president of the Sovereign Council from this position, especially since the head of the army has already called the RSF a rebel group since the beginning of the conflict,” he said.

“It appears that he is trying to diminish the position and power of the RSF while negotiations continue (in the Saudi city of Jeddah) and while fighting here in Sudan continues.”

Morgan went on to say that while Hemedti was removed from office, he is still a member of the Sovereignty Council.

“It seems more like a move to try to reduce Hemedti’s power and not to deny it completely,” he said.

The new decree came days after al-Burhan froze the bank accounts of RSF and its affiliated companies.

He also replaced the central bank governor and dismissed four generals who had been temporarily transferred to the paramilitary forces.