Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan's army chief, has fired his deputy and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

Both Gen Burhan and Hemedti have served as chairman and deputy of the ruling Sovereign Council respectively, since the October 2021 military coup.

In a decree released on Friday, Gen Burhan appointed former rebel leader Malik Agar as his deputy. Mr Agar is also a Sovereign Council member.

He directed the secretariat of the Sovereign Council and the relevant state authorities to immediately effect the decree.

The army chief had last month dissolved the RSF and designated its fighters as rebels after a power struggle erupted between the rival forces.

The country has since plunged into deadly fighting and turmoil.