Is end of war in sight after Sudanese army made more advances in Khartoum?

Sudan’s military said Saturday it seized several key buildings in central Khartoum from paramilitary control. This is coming after the recapture of the presidential palace on Friday. Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement on Friday, said: “In one of the greatest epics of heroism and bravery, our armed forces and supporting forces were […]

Sudan’s military said Saturday it seized several key buildings in central Khartoum from paramilitary control. This is coming after the recapture of the presidential palace on Friday.

Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement on Friday, said: “In one of the greatest epics of heroism and bravery, our armed forces and supporting forces were able to break the back of the terrorist militia and liberate the Republican Palace, a symbol of national sovereignty, the buildings of the sovereign ministries, and the centre of the capital, Khartoum.

“This resounding victory is another wedge in the coffin of the foreign conspiracy against Sudan’s sovereignty, stability, unity, and the pride and dignity of its people, whose resolve to support the country’s leadership and armed forces in the battle for dignity has not wavered.

“With God’s permission and grace, and then with the sacrifices and bravery of our armed forces and the supporting forces, the liberation of every inch of our beloved country will be completed.”

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 army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had promised “full liberation” of Khartoum and army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said the military was “continuing to pressure” the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) throughout the city centre. He gave 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.

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 journalists that its fighters had “withdrawn from some locations in central Khartoum.”

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

The battle for Khartoum’s city centre could consolidate the military’s hold on the capital region and may signal the end of 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.

‘Presidential palace recapturing strategic’

The media officer at the Sudan embassy in Nigeria, Almoiz Mohmed, highlighted the strategic importance of the recaptured presidential palace while speaking with Daily Trust on Sunday, saying it was a massive step towards defeating the RSF and ending the war.

Mohmed said the liberation of the palace and its return to the nation’s fold is a victory of strategic value as it is considered one of the most important icons of national sovereignty and the unity of the Sudanese people.

“The liberation of the Republican Palace represents not only a battlefield victory but a strategic turning point marked by firstly, restoring central control of the state and adjusting the balance of power in favour of the armed forces.

“Secondly, it represents the collapse of the rebellion project and the return of the initiative to the armed forces.

“Thirdly, it stands as the return of service institutions and the imposition of the rule of law,” he said, adding that it was the completion of the decisive military operation.

Battle continues

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.

An international affairs analyst in Abuja, Usman Akeem, said the Army’s recent victories were a welcome development, adding that the war may end earlier than envisaged if the army keeps gaining ground.

While noting that the crisis in Sudan was having a multiplying effect on security in Africa and Nigeria in particular, he said: “The earlier the issue in Sudan is resolved the better for Nigeria. It’s easy for weapons to find their way into Nigeria when we have such a crisis around us.”