The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced on 22 March that on the previous day, it had regained control of the presidential palace in Khartoum from the United Arab Emirates-backed paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), following intense fighting.
On social media, Sudanese soldiers posted videos that appeared to show them inside the presidential palace, celebrating their success. The RSF had taken over the palace in April 2023 at the outbreak of the foreign-backed proxy war that has displaced 12.9 million people and left close to 25 million acutely hungry, according to the UN. In May 2024, US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello stated that as many as 150,000 had been k*lled after a year of fighting. The actual death toll could be higher given the war destroyed the healthcare system, preventing accurate data.
In recent months, the army has been making gains, initially reclaiming territory in central Sudan before shifting its focus to Khartoum. It broke the RSF’s nearly two-year siege on the General Command headquarters in January. Then, in mid-March, the army reported that its troops had converged from north and south Khartoum, effectively surrounding the RSF.
While the UN has accused both the SAF and the RSF of war crimes, the UN has singled out the UAE-supported RSF and its allied militia groups for widespread s*xual violence and atrocities in areas under their control, particularly in Western Darfur, where they have attempted an ethnic cleansing of the Masalit and other non-Arab tribes.
Video credit: @warfareanalysis
Sources
https://apnews.com/article/sudan-military-rsf-war-khartoum-c41e1d829ea2560c9ff8eb43daac85da
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160161
https://apnews.com/article/sudan-military-rsf-war-khartoum-c41e1d829ea2560c9ff8eb43daac85da
https://apnews.com/article/sudan-military-rsf-war-khartoum-c41e1d829ea2560c9ff8eb43daac85da
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2024/05/09/rsf-accused-war-crimes-ethnic-cleansing-darfur
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2025/03/sudan-army-makes-gains-battle-khartoum-intensifies