After Khartoum army in push to oust RSF from Omdurman

The Sudanese army shelled parts of Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman from early morning on Thursday, residents said, after declaring victory over their Rapid Support Forces rivals in a two-year battle for the capital.

The army ousted the RSF from its last footholds in Khartoum on Wednesday but the paramilitary RSF holds some areas in Omdurman, directly across the Nile River, and has consolidated in west Sudan, splitting the nation into rival zones.

Khartoum residents expressed delight fighting was over for the first time since it erupted in April 2023.

The war has ruined much of Khartoum, uprooted more than 12mn Sudanese from their homes, and left about half of the 50mn population suffering acute hunger in what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

In a video posted yesterday from the recaptured presidential palace, army chief Abdul Fattah al-Burhan declared: "Khartoum is free".

The army controls most of Omdurman, home to two big military bases, and looks focused on driving out the last RSF troops to secure control over Khartoum's entire urban area. Thursday's shelling was directed at southern Omdurman.

The Rapid Support Forces vowed yesterday there would be "no retreat and no surrender" after rival troops of the regular army retook nearly all of central Khartoum.

But in its first direct comment since the army retook what remains of the capital's state institutions this week, the RSF said: "Our forces have not lost any battle, but have repositioned.

"Our forces will continue to defend the homeland's soil and secure a decisive victory. There will be no retreat or surrender," it said. (Reuters)