The Sudanese Army retakes the Presidential Palace in Khartoum from the FAR paramilitaries

The Sudanese army retook control of the paramilitary-held presidential palace in Khartoum on Friday after a fierce battle, a military spokesman announced, nearly two years after the start of the war.

"Our forces completely destroyed enemy fighters and equipment, and seized large quantities of equipment and weapons," spokesman Nabil Abdullah said in a statement broadcast on state television.

The army "will continue to advance on all fronts until victory is complete and every inch of our country is purged of the militia and its supporters," Abdullah added.

As of April 15, 2023, the war pits the head of the regular army, Abdel Fatah al Burhan, and his former deputy, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR), General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, had been occupied by the paramilitary faction since the beginning of the conflict. After conquering the compound, the FAR quickly took control of the streets of Khartoum, forcing the army-aligned government to flee to Port Sudan on the Red Sea shore.

Army soldiers shared videos on social media Friday filmed inside what would have been the presidential palace. AFP could not immediately verify the footage.

The center of Khartoum, where the presidential palace, the ministries quarter and the capital's business district are located, saw fierce fighting in recent months as army troops advanced through the city.

At the beginning of the week, the army indicated that it had converged its forces from the south with those in the center of the capital, increasing pressure on FAR.

Hard blow to FAR

"With the army's entry into the Republican Palace, which means control of central Khartoum, the militia has lost its elite forces," a military expert, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told AFP.

The paramilitaries had installed their elite troops and stockpiled many weapons and ammunition in the former seat of government, a symbol of Sudan's state sovereignty, military sources said.

In recent months, the army appears to have turned the tide of the war, advancing first in central Sudan to regain territory before focusing on Khartoum.

In January, the army broke a nearly two-year siege by FAR of its headquarters, allowing troops to merge with other battalions and encircle the paramilitaries in the city center.

"What was left of the FAR militias fled towards some buildings" in central Khartoum, a military source who requested anonymity told AFP.

In recent weeks, the army retook control of Khartoum's northern sector -- across the Blue Nile from the city center -- as well as the eastern sector of the Nile, east of the capital.

FAR holds positions in Khartoum and in its twin city of Omdurman, on the other side of the White Nile.

Elsewhere in the country, fighting intensified in recent weeks in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, which has been under siege since May and which the FAR is trying to seize in order to control the whole of the vast western region of Darfur.

El Fasher is the only rich city in the Darfur region that escapes the control of the paramilitaries.

Since its inception, the war caused tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of 12 million people, triggering the largest food and displacement crisis in the world.

In Greater Khartoum, at least 3.5 million people had to flee their homes as a result of the violence, and at least 100,000 people face malnutrition, according to UN data.