As the battle for the capital has escalated in recent days, General Hamdan’s paramilitaries have been pummeled by warplanes firing rockets and dropping bombs on Khartoum, a densely populated city with millions of people.
But in recent days the Rapid Support Forces have received an offer of powerful weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, from Mr. Prigozhin, American officials said.
General Hamdan has not decided whether to accept the weapons, which would come from Wagner stocks in the Central African Republic, the officials said.
Russia has a longstanding relationship with Sudan’s military and, since 2019, Wagner has expanded its activities in the country, mining for gold, exploring for uranium and supplying mercenaries to the restive region of Darfur.
Israel, too, has a stake. With American backing, it signed a deal to normalize relations with Sudan in 2020. Last year, a delegation from Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, visited Sudan for meetings with security leaders including General Hamdan, who offered counterterrorism and intelligence cooperation, according to Western and Sudanese officials familiar with the talks.
The least successful foreign project in Sudan is the one championed by Western countries — the shift to democracy. This month, the two generals, who had shared power, were supposed to hand it over to a civilian-led government. Now, with that goal in tatters, they are pushing Persian Gulf powers like Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. to use their leverage to force the warring generals to stand down.
“Are they going to freeze assets if they don’t listen?” said Alan Boswell, an expert at the International Crisis Group, raising the idea that the Gulf states could pressure Sudan’s generals by targeting their wealth. “No one wants a failed state in Sudan.”
Reporting was contributed by Eric Schmitt from Washington; Edward Wong from Karuizawa, Japan; Vivian Nereim from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Ahmed Al Omran from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
