Sudan’s army retakes presidential palace in Khartoum, strikes blow to RSF

After troops stormed the presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan’s army and its supporters are celebrating all over the country.

The army’s victory on Friday is perhaps its most significant victory since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a crucial counteroffensive in September of last year.

The RSF continues to control southern Khartoum, but it has lost the majority of its capital since Sudan’s civil war broke out in April 2023.

The development comes just days after Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the head of the RSF, publicly urged his supporters to keep the palace.

Despite some reports of army-aligned militias violating human rights after RSF withdrawals, civilians have generally welcomed the army as liberators.

In Sudan, including Khartoum, the RSF has committed numerous atrocities.

Since the start of the war up until June of last year, according to a recent report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“They rape women, kill people, and end all humanity in areas where the RSF controls.” People rejoice whenever the army arrives because they feel safer. Even the young Sudanese man, Yousef, expressed joy in his own children.

A different scenario abounds from Khartoum.

Analysts believe that Sudan is on the verge of de facto division as a result of the army’s capture of the presidential palace.

The sprawling region of Darfur, which is roughly the size of France, has four of the five regions under the control of the RSF, which is already supporting a parallel government.

The RSF recently seized the strategic desert city al-Maliha in North Darfur, which is the last area where the army and its aligned armed groups still have some control.

Despite the gain, the RSF is unable to acquiesce in El-Fasher, the army’s main garrison.

According to Sharath Srinivasan, a professor and expert on Sudan, Sudan appears to be moving toward a “Libya scenario,” in reference to the conflict of power between two rival governments that are linked to a web of militias and armed groups.

“It seems like the geographic split is expanding, with the exception of El-Fasher, of course.” El-Fasher must be convinced that RSF has the right to assert a de facto state, which is ambiguous, he claimed.

A time for peace, right?

The army has repeatedly stated that it intends to recapture the entire nation and has long declined to engage in peace talks with the RSF.

According to analysts, the RSF has also covered up its military operations in Sudan through diplomacy. Hemedti and a ostensibly antiwar coalition known as Taqaddum signed a “Declaration of Principles” in January of last year.

Hemedti then traveled to several heads of state in different parts of Africa, where his forces continued to plunder, kill, and terrorize civilians in Gezira, Sudan’s largest breadbasket.

Concerned that clashes could get worse in the west of the nation, particularly in the Kordofan and Darfur regions, both sides have recently pledged to keep fighting.

Due to Khartoum’s abundance of sophisticated weapons, fighting may also get worse. A drone struck and killed three journalists in the area just as the army celebrated the army’s victory, according to the report.

Sudan’s burgeoning conflict could cause a lot of trouble in a number of regions. By far the most important measure has the conflict already led to the biggest humanitarian crisis in history.