Sudan’s military retakes Republican Palace in Khartoum in blow to RSF

Sudan’s military has retaken the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last heavily guarded bastion of rival paramilitary forces in the capital, after nearly two years of fighting.

The seizure of the palace, which is surrounded by government ministries, is a major symbolic victory for the army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

But it’s unlikely that the building’s seizure signals an end to the almost two-year war as the RSF holds territory in Sudan’s western Darfur region and elsewhere in the country.

Social media videos showed Sudanese soldiers inside the palace and a officer wearing captain’s epaulettes confirmed troops were inside the compound.

The palace appeared to be in ruins, with soldiers’ stepping on broken tiles and carrying assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Khaled al-Aiser, Sudan’s information minister, also said the military had retaken the palace in a post on the social platform X.

“Today the flag is raised, the palace is back and the journey continues until victory is complete,” he wrote.

Later in the day, curious residents wandered through the palace and were confronted by walls pockmarked by rifle rounds and smears of blood leading to haphazardly covered bodies.

A symbolic moment

The fall of the Republican Palace, a compound along the Nile River that was the seat of government before the civil war erupted in 2023, marks another battlefield gain for the military, which has made steady advances in recent months under army chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

It also means that the rival RSF fighters, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, have been mostly expelled from Khartoum.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard throughout the capital on Friday, although it wasn’t clear if it involved fighting or was celebratory in nature.

Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, a spokesperson for the Sudanese military, said its troops are holding the palace, surrounding ministry buildings and the Arab Market to the south of the complex.

Khartoum International Airport, around 2.5 kilometres from the palace, has been under RSF control since the start of the war in April 2023.

Suleiman Sandal, a politician associated with the RSF, acknowledged the military took the palace and called it part of “the ups and downs” of history.

The RSF later issued a statement claiming its forces “are still present of the vicinity of the area, fighting bravely.”

A drone attack on the palace believed to have been launched by the RSF reportedly killed troops and journalists with Sudanese state television.

Meanwhile, late on Thursday, the RSF claimed it had seized control of the city of al-Maliha, a strategic desert settlement in North Darfur near the borders with Chad and Libya.

Sudan’s military has acknowledged fighting around al-Maliha, but has not said it lost the city.

Humanitarian crisis

The head of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, has said that the conflict in Sudan has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations and other aid agencies had previously been using the figure of 20,000 confirmed deaths, but some officials say the death toll could be as high as 150,000.

Millions have been forced from their homes and famine is sweeping parts of the country.

Years of instability

Sudan, a nation in northeastern Africa, has been unstable since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

A short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when Burhan and Dagalo led military coup in 2021.

But the military outfits they command started fighting each other in 2023 as each struggled to seize power.

Since the war began, both the military and the RSF have faced allegations of human rights abuses, with both sides denying the claims.