Sudan’s army launches major offensive to retake Khartoum

The army lost control of most of the capital to the paramilitary RSF at the start of the conflict last April.

Sudan’s army has launched a major offensive in the capital, Khartoum, to regain ground held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), military sources have told media.

The army carried out air strikes on Thursday against RSF positions in the capital and north of Khartoum in its biggest such assault in months.

Reporting from Khartoum, media’s Hiba Morgan said the army has taken control of three main bridges, including two that connect the city of Omdurman with the capital.

Its forces have “been advancing towards … the presidential palace where there has also been heavy fighting reported”, said Morgan.

The army attacked several military sites belonging to the RSF, the sources said. Heavy and light weapons were being used in the continuing battles, and the Sudanese Air Force was carrying out several flights over Khartoum, they added.

At least four people were killed and 14 wounded during artillery shelling on Thursday morning by the RSF, which targeted residential neighbourhoods in the Karari Governorate, north of Omdurman, according to Khartoum State Health Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim.

The injured were transferred to Al-No Hospital, he said.

Though the army retook some ground in Omdurman early this year, it depends mostly on artillery and air strikes and has been unable to dislodge more effective RSF ground forces embedded in Khartoum.

“You can hear the heavy artillery now still ongoing, so it looks like the army is still fighting the RSF in several positions,” Morgan reported.

The bloody civil war has caused a dire humanitarian crisis, however diplomatic efforts by the United States and other countries have faltered, with the army refusing to attend talks last month in Switzerland.

The army was trying to “drain the capacities and the capabilities” of the RSF, so their presence in the capital could be “minimised”, Morgan said.

“Sources say this is the right time, with the RSF busy on other fronts in North Darfur, as well as in the south and central parts of the country,” she added.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern on Wednesday over an “escalation” in the conflict when he met al-Burhan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

A UN-backed assessment has warned of the risk of widespread famine in Sudan on a scale not seen anywhere in the world in decades.