Sudan's Army Claims Ousted al-Bashir Held in Military Hospital

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Facts

  • Sudan's army on Wednesday stated that the country's deposed former Pres. Omar al-Bashir is being held in Aliaa military hospital under police custody amid rumors about his whereabouts after thousands of inmates escaped from the Kober prison, where he has been detained since 2019, over the weekend.1
  • He was reportedly transferred to the hospital in the capital, Khartoum, along with some 30 other prisoners, after fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out.2
  • The announcement comes a day after Ahmed Haroun, a top aide of al-Bashir who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" in Darfur, announced that he and other former officials fled detention.3
  • Videos circulating online apparently show several detainees leaving the facility with bags of belongings as clashes engulfed the prison during the weekend. The warring sides have accused each other of carrying out the jailbreak.4
  • Meanwhile, renewed battles on the outskirts of Khartoum have been reported despite a three-day cease-fire agreed both by the Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan-led army and the Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo-led RSF amid diplomatic pressure from the US and Saudi Arabia. The temporary truce — originally due to expire Thursday — was extended for another 72 hours.5
  • At least 559 people, most of them civilians, had reportedly been killed as of Tuesday, with the UN humanitarian agency preparing for an exodus of as many as 270K refugees to neighboring countries.6

Sources: 1Middle East Eye, 2Al Jazeera, 3Africa News, 4Guardian (a), 5Guardian (b), and 6CBS.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Dabanga Radio TV Online. The RSF has wreaked havoc in Sudan since unjustifiably deploying its forces to Khartoum and other parts of the country, which has been going through a decisive moment to establish a civilian-led transitional government. While it's true that the paramilitary group has become a state within a state, this crisis has ultimately been fueled by elements of the former al-Bashir regime that are willing to drag Sudan into civil war in the hope of returning to power.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Middle East Monitor. While the RSF has stood by the masses of the Sudanese people, the coup leaders of the Armed Forces have long planned to drag the country into a civil war to create security justifications to release officials of the former regime. It was clear from day one of the fighting that they were treacherously advancing their rogue agenda to restore the regime of oppression, extremism, and terrorism that harmed the nation.