The Sudanese army seized full control of the Presidential Palace in downtown Khartoum on Friday, it said in a statement, in one of the most symbolic gains in a two-year-old conflict with a rival armed group that has threatened to partition the country.

The army had long been on the backfoot but has recently been making gains and has retaken territory in the centre of the country from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Meanwhile the RSF has consolidated control in the west, hardening battle lines and moving the country towards de facto partition. The RSF is working to set up a parallel government in areas it controls, although that is not expected to receive widespread international recognition.

The army said it had also taken control of ministries and other key buildings in central Khartoum. Military sources said RSF fighters had withdrawn about 400 metres away.

The RSF had rapidly seized the palace in Khartoum, along with the rest of the city, after war broke out in April 2023 over the paramilitary’s integration into the armed forces.

The army shared videos of soldiers cheering in the palace, its glass windows shattered and walls pockmarked with bullet holes.

The RSF did not immediately comment on the retaking of the palace and the army’s advances in Khartoum.

Late on Thursday the group said it had seized a key base from the army in North Darfur, a region in the west of the country.

Many Sudanese welcomed news the army had control of the palace.

“The liberation of the palace is the best news I’ve heard since the start of the war, because it means the start of the army controlling the rest of Khartoum,” said 55-year-old Khartoum resident Mohamed Ibrahim.

“We want to be safe again and live without fear or hunger,” he said.

The conflict has led to what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, spreading famine in several locations and disease across the country of 50 million people.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes, while the RSF has also been charged with genocide. Both sides deny the charges.

GUNFIRE IN KHARTOUM

Intermittent gunfire could be heard in Khartoum on Friday, and bloody fighting was expected as the army seeks to corner the RSF, which still occupies swathes of the territory to the south of the palace in the city.

“We are moving forward along all fighting axes until victory is complete by cleansing every inch of our country from the filth of this militia and its collaborators,” the army statement said.

The war erupted two years ago as the country was planning a transition to democratic rule.

The army and RSF had joined forces after ousting Omar al-Bashir from power in 2019 and later to oust civilian leadership.

But they had long been at odds, as Bashir developed the RSF, which has its roots in Darfur’s janjaweed militias, and leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo as a counterweight to the army, led by career officer Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.