NEWS– Sudan’s Military Leader, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has survived an assassination attempt after drones were fired on the National Military Head missed its target at the military base in the town of Gibait located 100 km from Port Sudan.
The Sudan Army Spokesman Nabil Abdallah blamed the attack on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and said two drones had struck an army graduation ceremony, killing five people at a base in Gebeit, a town in Eastern Sudan.
However, Rapid Support Forces have denied their hand in the attack as the attack came ahead of peace talks between the Sudan National Army and the rebel Rapid Support Forces faction in Switzerland.
Sudan has been facing a civil conflict for over a year, with the army fighting a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces once overseen by the Sudanese government but broke away due to a rift between army Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
Video footage of ceremony shows columns of uniformed intakes marching before the explosion from the drones and Abdallah said Gen Burhan had escaped unharmed.
Since April 2023, Gen Burhan’s loyalists in the Sudanese Army have fought to a stalemate elements of the Rapid Support Forces led by archrival Hamdan Dagalo.
The two general who were allies after the coup which toppled long term ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019 quickly became foes over the nature of the transition to civilian rule.
The alleged assassination attempt if confirmed to have been the handwork of the Rapid Support Forces could affect a proposed peace deal to be brokered by the United States in August.
Thousands of people have died and over 10 million more have been forced to flee during the conflict which continues to rage on despite several talks for a ceasefire.
UN relief agencies have on several times warned of a serious huminatarian crisis exacerbated by widespread human rights violations blamed on both sides of the conflict.
