Sudan army advances in central Khartoum after retaking palace

Sudan army advances in central Khartoum after retaking palace

Fighters loyal to Sudan's regular army pose for photographs at the battle-damaged presidential palace in Khartoum after its recapture from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

Sudan's military said Saturday it seized several key buildings in central Khartoum from paramilitary control after army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan promised "full liberation" following the recapture of the presidential palace.

Army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said the military was "continuing to pressure" the Rapid Support Forces throughout the city centre, giving a list of buildings recaptured including the Central Bank, state intelligence headquarters and the Sudan National Museum.

Despite its advances in the capital, Africa's third largest country remains effectively split in two, with the army holding the east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of the western region of Darfur and parts of the south.

Activists on Saturday said dozens of civilians had been killed in a paramilitary attack in a remote part of North Darfur state, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the capital.

Sudan's national institutions in Khartoum's centre were all overrun and looted by paramilitaries in the first weeks after fighting erupted in April 2023.

An RSF source confirmed to AFP that its fighters had "withdrawn from some locations in central Khartoum," but added "the battle has not been decided yet".

"Our forces are now waging a fierce battle" near the airport, he said on condition of anonymity.

RSF fighters remain inside what remains of the airport, which has been heavily damaged during nearly two years of fighting.

On Friday, the army and allied armed groups retook the presidential palace from the RSF, which retaliated with a drone strike that killed three members of a Sudanese TV crew and several army personnel.

The paramilitaries had used the palace to house their elite forces and stockpile ammunition, according to military sources.

Photos showed parts of the palace blasted away by battle damage. Built with Chinese funding, the building on the Blue Nile river opened about a decade ago.

The battle for Khartoum's city centre could consolidate the military's hold on the capital region but is unlikely to end the war.

With its advance on Friday, the army has taken the entire south side of the Blue Nile, which separates the capital from Khartoum North. It has also secured the main road route across the White Nile from the city centre to Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman.

Since April 2023, the military led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has fought the RSF, headed by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

After a year and a half of defeats, the tide seemed to turn late last year, when an army counteroffensive through central Sudan led to its recapture of much of Khartoum.

- Battle 'not over' -

In a video shared by the army on Saturday, Burhan said his forces were "advancing with steady steps towards the full liberation of Sudan".

"The battle is not over, we will continue," he said to cheers and ululations in al-Kamlin, a town about 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Khartoum, the day before.

Army sources said the paramilitaries withdrew into buildings in al-Mogran, an area just west of the palace housing banks and business headquarters.

The paramilitaries posted snipers in the district's high-rises, which overlook both Omdurman and the government ministries of central Khartoum.

"Our forces in central Khartoum are continuing to pressure the Daglo thugs ... (who) are trying to escape from our forces," said Abdallah, the army spokesman.

He said the army had "eliminated hundreds of militia members who tried to escape through pockets in central Khartoum."

Analysts cautioned that even if the army went on to recapture the whole of greater Khartoum, it would not spell the end of Sudan's war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million.

Facing successive army victories in central Sudan, the RSF has redoubled its efforts to consolidate its hold on Darfur, where its resupply links from Libya have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied armed groups known as the Joint Forces.

On Saturday, activists said a paramilitary attack on the North Darfur town of Al-Malha killed at least 45 civilians. RSF on Thursday said it had seized the town.

The resistance committee, a volunteer aid group in North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) southwest, said it was unable to identify 15 other "victims of the al-Malha massacre".

ab-bha/it

Originally published as Sudan army advances in central Khartoum after retaking palace