On Friday, Sudanese troops recaptured the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last strongly guarded fortress of rival paratroops in the capital after nearly two years of battle.
The seizure of the Republican Palace surrounded by government ministries was a major symbolic victory for the Sudanese forces over paramilitary and swift support forces, but it does not mean the end of the war as the RSF retains territory in the Darfur region of Sudan and elsewhere.
Sudanese army blames video reportedly showing troops that have severed enemy heads
The social media video showed Sudanese soldiers inside the palace, giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan, the corresponding month of sacred Muslim fasting on Friday. A Sudanese soldier wearing the captain's euphoria announced on video, confirming that the army is in the compound.
The palace appeared to be surrounded by abandoned inns, with soldiers stepping on broken tiles. The army carrying attack rifles and rocket-propelled hand-ren bullet launchers chanted “God is the best!”
Sudan's Information Minister Khaled Al-Aiser said the military had seized the palace on the post of social platform X.
Army soldiers are walking in front of the Republican Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, after being taken over by the Sudanese Army on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP photo)
“Today, the flag has been raised, the palace is back and the journey continues until victory is complete,” he wrote.
Afterwards, curious inhabitants wandered the palace. The wall was pockmarked by a rifle round. The blood smear led to the corpse, covering the blanket covered.
The palace falls into a symbolic and strategic moment
The collapse of the Republican Palace – immortalised by Sudan's banknotes and stamps, a compound along the Nile River that was the seat of government before the war – shows the interests of another battlefield of the Sudanese army.
It also means that under General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the rival RSF fighter jets have been almost exiled from the capital Khartoum. The sporadic shootouts could be heard throughout the capital on Friday, but it was not clear whether it had to do with the battle or a celebration.
Brig. Sudanese Army spokesman General Nabil Abdullah said the unit holds the palace, surrounding ministry buildings and the Arab market south of the complex.
Khartoum International Airport, approximately 2.5 km (1.5 miles) southeast of the palace, has been held by the RSF since the start of the war in April 2023.
Suleiman Sandal, a politician associated with the RSF, admitted that the military had taken the palace and called it part of the “ups and downs” of history.
The RSF later issued a statement claiming that the unit “still exists near the area and is fighting bravely.” The drone attack on the palace, believed to have been launched by the RSF, reportedly killed troops and journalists on television in the Sudan province.
Late Thursday, the RSF allegedly seized control of Almaliha, a city of Sudan, a strategic desert city in North Darfur near the border with Chad and Libya. Sudanese troops have admitted to the fight around Al Maliha, but have not said they have lost the city.
Al Maliha is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of El Fascher city and is held by the Sudanese troops despite almost a day's strike by besieging the RSF.
The head of the UN Children's Agency said the Sudan conflict has created the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. UNICEF on Friday separately denounced food aid looting aimed at going to malnourished children at Al-Bashir Hospital, on the outskirts of Khartoum.
“Commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been blocked for over three months due to ongoing conflicts along the main route,” UNICEF warned. “The consequences are that there is a serious shortage of food, medicine and other essentials, and thousands of civilians are trapped in an aggressive battle.”
The war killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions of people to flee their homes, leaving families grazing in desperate attempts to survive as hunger wipes out parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a much higher death toll.
The Republican palace became power during the British colonization of Sudan. We also saw some of the first flags of independent Sudan, raised in 1956. The complex was also the headquarters of the Sudanian president and other top officials.
Sudanese troops have long targeted the palace and its site, bombarding and firing the complex.
Sudan faces years of chaos and war
Sudan, a northeastern African nation, has been unstable since 2019 when a mass uprising forced the removal of longtime dictatorial president Omar al-Bashir. The short-lived transition to democracy was derailed in 2021 when Burhan and Dagalo led a military coup.
The RSF and Sudanese forces began fighting each other in 2023.
Since the beginning of this year, Burhan forces, including Sudanese troops and allied militias, have made progress against the RSF. They recaptured the main refinery north of Khartoum and pushed it into the RSF position around Khartoum itself. The fight led to an increase in civilian casualties.
Al-Bashir, along with RSF precursor Janjaweed Militia, faces accusations in the International Criminal Court for running a massacre campaign in the western Darfur region in the early 2000s. Rights groups and the United Nations have accused RSF and allied Arab militias of attacking African groups once again in this latest war.
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Since the war began, both the Sudanese military and the RSF have faced allegations of human rights abuses. Before President Joe Biden resigned, the State Department declared that the RSF was guilty of genocide.
The military and the RSF deny committing abuse.
