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STORY: Once side-by-side, two men now stand opposed in a battle that is dragging Sudan to the brink of civil war.

General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan is the de facto head of state, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo his deputy.

The former is a career soldier and the army's chief, the latter - better known as Hemedti - a former warlord who leads the country's main paramilitary group.

“I am a simple Bedouin man, who grew up on the sidelines of Sudan and did not get anything from my country except violence.”

Hemedti started out as a camel trader in the Darfur region before, according to a former assistant, taking up arms after his trade convoy was attacked.

He was among fighters who later allied with the government to quash a rebellion that erupted in Darfur in 2003.

The militia forces had a fearsome reputation.

They became known as the Janjaweed, a term loosely derived from the Arabic for "devils on horseback."

Around 300,000 people were killed in the Darfur campaign and two million displaced.

The International Criminal Court has accused former President Omar al-Bashir of masterminding genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes - which he and his government denied, saying they only targeted rebels.

Amid the bloodshed, Hemedti caught Bashir's attention.

His militia, which morphed into the Rapid Support Forces, became the government's enforcer.

Bashir gave Hemedti's family and associates free rein to sell Sudan's gold - helping him amass a fortune.

But Hemedti would later turn on his benefactor when Bashir was ousted in 2019.

He secured the post of deputy head of state - technically reporting to Burhan, who cuts a very different figure.

He's a career soldier with 41 years of service, mostly under Bashir.

Like Hemedti, Burhan also rose under the autocratic leader before dumping him when Bashir's star was waning.

Burhan says he was one of the military figures who told Bashir to step down.

Since then, as the head of a military council, Burhan has made promises of elections and handing over power to a civilian government.

His opponents says he's instead put the military firmly in charge.

Protests have faced a fierce response from Burhan's security forces.

"Once we put on these khakis, we have no other path. We do not get startled or afraid and even if every one of us is dead, we will not be frightened or back away.”

As military chief Burhan controls heavy weapons and the armed forces.

But his solders are up against Hemedti's skilled irregular force that may number, analysts says, 100,000 or more paramilitary fighters.

They have already proved a tricky opponent.

When bases have come under attack they have melted away into residential areas where heavy armor and conventional military tactics lose their advantage.

Both men now battle, predominantly in the capital, trying to deliver the killer blow in their power struggle.

Instead they may deliver a protracted conflict and more instability.

After decades of autocracy, military rule and international isolation - Sudan is in danger of seeing its prospects for peace and economic revival go up in smoke.