Key points
- Military has retaken the palace: Sudan’s information minister
- The war has killed more than 28,000 people
- Republican Palace had been the seat of power during British colonisation of Sudan
ISLAMABAD: Sudanese army troops recaptured the presidential palace from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Friday after a fierce battle, a military source told AFP.
“Our forces stormed and took control of the Republican Palace after crushing the remnants of the militia,” the source said on condition of anonymity, referring to the RSF, which had occupied the palace since April 2023, according to AFP.
According to AP, Sudan’s military said it retook the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last bastion in the capital of rival paramilitary forces, after nearly two years of fighting.
Social media videos showed its soldiers inside giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan, which was Friday. A Sudanese military officer wearing a captain’s epaulettes made the announcement in the video, and confirmed the troops were inside the compound.
Partly in ruins
The palace appeared to be partly in ruins, with soldiers’ steps crunching broken tiles underneath their boots.
Khaled al-Aiser, Sudan’s information minister, 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.
The fall of the Republican Palace, a compound along the Nile River that was the seat of government before the war erupted and is immortalised on Sudanese banknotes and postage stamps, marks another battlefield gain for Sudan’s military. It has made steady advances in recent months under army chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan.
It means the rival Rapid Support Forces, under General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have been expelled from the capital of Khartoum after Sudan’s war began in April 2023.
The group did not immediately acknowledge the loss, which likely would not stop the fighting as the RSF and its allies still hold territory elsewhere in Sudan. Late Thursday, the RSF claimed it seized control of the Sudanese city of al-Maliha, a strategic desert city in North Darfur. Sudan’s military has acknowledged fighting around al-Maliha, but has not said it lost the city.
Al-Maliha is around 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the city of El Fasher, which remains held by the Sudanese military despite near-daily strikes by the RSF, according to AP.
Over 28,000 killed
The head of the UN children’s agency has said the conflict created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
The war has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll.
The Republican Palace had been the seat of power during the British colonization of Sudan. It also saw some of the first independent Sudanese flags raised over the country in 1956. It also had been the main office of Sudan’s president and other top officials.
The Sudanese military have long targeted the palace and its grounds, shelling and firing on the compound, according to AP.
