The battles that have raged for three days in Sudan have all the markings of a potential civil war. Dueling armed factions - the country's military, led by Sudanese president and top commander Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and a major paramilitary force known as the Rapid Support Forces, led by Vice President Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo - clashed in the capital of Khartoum and other cities.
The fighting, triggered apparently by disputes over how to integrate the RSF into the military, has even involved airstrikes against rival targets and has impacted dense urban areas, leading to the deaths of more than 180 people, according to a U.N. official, with the toll expected to rise. It has also claimed the lives of three Sudanese people working for the U.N.'s World Food Program, while there were reports Monday evening of assaults on Western diplomats.
