Sudan's military take control of presidential palace

Sudan’s regular army has reportedly recaptured the presidential palace seized by paramilitary forces two years ago.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have taken control of the presidential palace in Khartoum, the local broadcaster in Sudan and international news agencies reported on Friday.

Videos and photos posted on social media showed soldiers inside the devastated palace.

The Reuters news agency reported that intermittent gunfire could be heard in some central areas of the capital, citing witnesses.

Sudan’s Information Minister Khaled al-Aiser, said the military had retaken the palace in a post on social media platform X.

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

“Our forces completely destroyed the enemy’s fighters and equipment, and seized large quantities of equipment and weapons,” army spokesman, Nabil Abdallah, said in a statement broadcast on state television.

On Thursday it was reported that SAF troops had advanced within a few hundred meters of the palace — seized by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) almost two years ago.

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The French AFP news agency reported that SAF forces “destroyed an RSF convoy of 30 vehicles attempting to withdraw southward,” in a report citing a military source.

The military has been making steady progress against RSF forces and says it has wrestled back control of the capital, Khartoum.

Since April 2023, the conflict has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan against his former deputy and the paramilitary RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The World Health Organization says at least 20,000 people have so far been killed in the war in Sudan, with other estimates putting the toll at as high as 150,000.

According to UN figures, at least 10 million people in Sudan have been forced from their homes, making it the world’s largest displacement crisis.

In August, a UN-backed assessment declared a famine in the Zamzam refugee camp in the western Darfur region which is largely controlled by the RSF paramilitary.