File Photo: Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
Khartoum: Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Friday sacked his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, after more than a month of deadly fighting between forces loyal to the two generals.
Since April 15, hundreds have died and more than one million have been displaced amid the conflict between Sudan's army, led by Burhan, and Daglo's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces following a power struggle over the RSF's integration into the regular military.
The pair had shared power within a governing council since launching a joint coup in October 2021 that derailed Sudan's fragile moves toward civilian rule, with Burhan as president and Daglo serving as deputy.
"General Burhan has issued a constitutional decree assigning Malik Agar to the post of vice-president of the riling transitional Sovereignty Council, effective today," the council said Friday on its Facebook page.
Agar, a former rebel leader and governor of the southern Blue Nile state, signed a peace deal with Khartoum in 2020 and was appointed to the Sovereignty Council in February 2021.
His rebel movement, the SPLM-North, was formed in 2011 by fighters who remained in Sudan after the south's secession that year.
Observers consider Agar's promotion as a symbolic move which is not expected to impact the power struggle between Burhan and Daglo.
Around 1,000 people have been killed, mainly in and around Khartoum as well as in the long-troubled western region of Darfur.
In Nyala, capital of South Darfur, fighting killed 18 people on Thursday, Sudan's doctors syndicate said, and witnesses told AFP clashes were ongoing on Friday.
The United Nations says more than half of Sudan's population requires humanitarian assistance as diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the fighting continue to falter.
