https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65284948Since a coup in October 2021, Sudan has been run by a council of generals and there are two military men at the centre of the dispute. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the armed forces and in effect the country's president. And his deputy and leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.
They have disagreed on the direction the country is going in and the proposed move towards civilian rule. One of the main sticking points is over the plans to include the 100,000-strong RSF into the army and who would then lead the new force. The violence follows days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.
There had been some hope that talks could resolve the situation but these never happened. It is not clear who fired the first shot on Saturday morning but there are fears that this will worsen an already unstable situation. Diplomats have urged the two sides to cease fire.
The RSF was formed in 2013 and has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militia that brutally fought off rebels in Darfur.
Since then, Gen Dagalo has built a powerful force that has intervened in conflicts in Yemen and Libya and controls some of Sudan's gold mines. Rivalry between Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (pictured) and Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is at the heart of the problem It has also been accused of human rights abuses, including the massacre of more than 120 protesters in June 2019. Such a strong force outside the army has been seen as a source of instability in the country.