Early on the morning of September 26, the Sudanese army launched a major offensive to retake the capital Khartoum from the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Local media reported that the army sent several infantry formations that crossed vital bridges linking Omdurman to Khartoum, supported by air power and artillery fire.
The army captured at least one vital bridge and took control of Souk al-Araby – a market in the heart of Khartoum, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reported on Friday. Several residents of the town told Al Jazeera that the army had taken control of three major crossing points in total.
The assault could be one of the largest operations carried out by the army since the start of the war in Sudan in April 2023.
Since then, the RSF has firmly controlled most of the city and is accused of committing abuses against the civilian population, such as looting markets and hospitals, uprooting residents and confiscating their homes and subjugation of women and girls to extreme forms of sexual violence. violence.
Reports of the army’s recent advances have given some hope to civilians still living under RSF control in Khartoum, according to Augreis*, a human rights activist who provides aid and food to besieged civilians living under RSF control.
“People have had enough of the militias,” she said, referring to the RSF.
However, she added that civilians were also frightened by the continued fighting.
“We’ve been nervous since 2 a.m. [00:00 GMT]. We heard all the sounds of all types of heavy artillery [being used] at the same time. [All the sounds and attacks are] coming from all the instructions with the [sound of] fighter jets and drones,” she told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
Reverse the trend?
Before the army’s recent advance into the capital, its supporters increasingly feared that it would not be equipped or successful in defeating the paramilitaries.
Lack of faith forced thousands of Sudanese men to take up arms to protect their villages and communities from the RSF.
But today, with the announcement of a fierce fight by the army to reconquer the capital, supporters of the army seem to increasingly believe that the RSF could be defeated.
“There is a connection between the army and the Sudanese people. These are our soldiers and our people who are in the army,” said Badawi, an activist from Omdurman, a city that is part of Khartoum state.
Badawi added that there is “joy” among people living under the army in Omdurman areas and that people see this recent operation as a “vital step forward” to winning the war.
Hajooj Kuka, external communications manager of the Khartoum State Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), a network of local activists providing vital aid to civilians in areas controlled by the RSF and the army, warned that it was too early to determine the extent of the situation. drive report in the city.
“The general feeling is that [the army] will not take [Khartoum] finished,” he told Al Jazeera. “All I know is that in the areas where our ERR members are, control hasn’t changed much.
Looking for legitimacy?
Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan recently spoke before the United Nations General Assembly in New York as the de facto authority in the country, where he said that a number countries sent weapons and equipment to the RSF.
He also said the army is open to “peace” once the RSF ends its occupation. Reconquering Khartoum could be a major step toward this goal, while signaling to the global community that the military is gradually regaining control of Sudan.
“The assault to retake the capital began with the [army]. [It is] coinciding with Burhan’s speech to the UN today. This looks like a coordinated approach to indicating who the real authority is in Sudan,” tweeted Cameron Hudson, Sudan expert at the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, a think tank in Washington, DC.
Augreis, the human rights activist, said many of her peers were indifferent over who ultimately controls Khartoum, and cited accusations that the military also committed human rights abuses, including repressing volunteers and humanitarian activists.
“Most activists are neutral,” she said. “Neither of us knows [the RSF or army] it will do us good.
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