Domestic Politics

Sudan is entering its third day of fighting after tensions between leaders of Sudan's army and a rival paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into violence in the capital, Khartoum, on Saturday (15 April). According to the Sudanese doctors' union, at least 100 civilians have died during the violence despite a temporary ceasefire observed on Sunday to allow the wounded to be evacuated. Violence erupted in the capital city of Khartoum on Saturday after the army and a rival paramilitary group failed to reach an agreement concerning the transfer to civilian rule of the country. Since a coup in October 2021, Sudan has been run by a council of generals, and two military men at the centre of the dispute. On the one hand, there is General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the armed forces and in effect the country's president, and on the other is his deputy and leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. The violence has led to international calls for peace to be restored. The former Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi said, "the army must go back to the barracks and civilians must rule for a transitional period for a short time, then move to free and fair elections."

An explosion yesterday afternoon (2 April) in a café in central St Petersburg has killed Vladlen Tatarsky, a high-profile Russian military blogger and vocal supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine. The explosion, which happened at 18.13 local time, killed Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, as well as injuring twenty-four others, six of whom are in a critical condition, according to the Russian health ministry. It is not yet clear who is responsible for the attack, which Russian authorities have said is being investigated as "high-profile murder". Tatarsky had been a guest speaker at an event at the Street Food Bar No 1 café in central St Petersburg when he was targeted. While there are conflicting reports about the nature of the explosive device that killed him, soon after the explosion videos on social media emerged of him being handed a box with a statue inside as a gift, which had a bomb hidden inside, according to Russian sources. Later on Sunday evening, Russian media published a video of a woman being taken out of an apartment belonging to Darya Trepova, a St Petersburg local understood to have been born in 1997 and had previously been arrested at anti-war rallies. Sources suggest they have reason to believe she was responsible for Tatarsky's murder.

Last night (26-27 March) saw massive protests in Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defence minister after he spoke out against controversial judicial reform plans that have led to weeks of protests. Gallant had voiced concerns that the divisions in society being caused by the proposed legislation were hurting morale in the military and emboldening Israel’s enemies across the region. "I see how the source of our strength is being eroded," Gallant said. This led to Netanyahu removing him from his position, saying that "he doesn’t have any faith in him anymore and therefore he is fired." Meanwhile Israel's President Isaac Herzog addressed Netanyahu, tweeting, "For the sake of the unity of the people of Israel, for the sake of the responsibility we are obliged to, I call on you to stop the legislative process immediately." The judicial reform plans announced on 4 January would give parliament the authority to override Supreme Court decisions with a basic majority. The plans would also make it very difficult for the courts to declare a prime minister unfit for office and remove them for the courts.