The Sudanese army claims to be in charge of the Khartoum presidential palace

The Sudanese army announced in a statement Friday that it has taken complete control of the presidential palace in downtown Khartoum, marking a significant victory in the two-year-old war against a rival armed group that has threatened to split the nation.

Hours later, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said that it was still near the palace and that it had attacked, killing hundreds of army soldiers inside.

The fighters were approximately 400 meters away, according to army officials. They claimed that a drone attack on the army’s forces had killed three state television journalists and other soldiers.

Despite being on the defensive for a long time, the army has recently made progress and reclaimed land from the RSF in the nation’s center.

In the meantime, the RSF has solidified its hold on the west, fortifying its lines of combat and advancing the nation toward de facto division. Although it is unlikely to gain broad international recognition, the RSF is attempting to establish a parallel government in the regions under its control.

When war broke out in April 2023 over the paramilitary’s integration into the armed forces, the RSF quickly took control of Khartoum’s presidential palace and the rest of the city.

Videos showed soldiers applauding on the palace grounds with its glass windows broken and its walls covered in bullet holes were posted by the army. Pictures showed the newly built palace’s cladding destroyed by explosives.

The army’s declaration that it controlled the palace was warmly received by many Sudanese.

“The liberation of the palace is the best news I’ve heard since the start of the war, because it means the army will start controlling the rest of Khartoum,” Mohamed Ibrahim, a 55-year-old Khartoum resident, said.

“We want to be safe again and live without fear or hunger,” he stated.

The RSF announced late Thursday that it had taken control of a strategic outpost in the western area of the country known as North Darfur from the army.

With starvation spreading in multiple areas and disease sweeping the 50 million-person nation, the conflict has resulted in what the U.N. refers to as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The RSF has been charged with genocide, and both sides have been accused of war crimes. The charges are denied by both parties.

KHARTOUM GUNFIRE

Bloody battle was anticipated as the army tries to corner the RSF, which still controls large areas of the area south of the palace, after intermittent gunfire was reported in Khartoum on Friday.

“We are moving forward along all fighting axes until victory is complete by cleansing every inch of our country from the filth of this militia and its collaborators,” the statement read.

Earlier this week, troops were told to keep the palace under control by RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

According to Ahmed Soliman, senior research fellow at Chatham House, the RSF still maintains some locations in Khartoum, but their hold there is less than it has ever been since the conflict started, and their trajectory indicates they will be driven out entirely.

He warned that Sudan would have to deal with “a contested, partitioned reality” if the army carried on with the battle in the west.

Two years ago, as the nation was preparing to move to democratic governance, the conflict broke out.

Following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and the subsequent removal of civilian leadership, the army and RSF teamed up.

However, they had been at conflict for a long time since Bashir created Hemedti and the RSF, which are based on the janjaweed militias of Darfur, as a counterweight to the army under the command of career general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.