Sudan’s military announced on Saturday that it had reclaimed control of a key district in greater Khartoum as it continued its offensive against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Kafouri district, located in Khartoum North (Bahri), had been under RSF control since the outbreak of war between the army and the paramilitaries in April 2023.
In an official statement, military spokesman Nabil Abdullah declared that army forces, along with allied units, had “completed on Friday the clearing of” Kafouri and other areas in Sharq El Nil, 15 kilometres to the east, of what he described as “remnants of the Daglo terrorist militias.”
In recent weeks, the army has made significant advances through Bahri, which had been an RSF stronghold since the war began, pushing the paramilitary forces towards the outskirts.
Kafouri, one of the most affluent districts in Khartoum, had served as a crucial RSF base. Among the properties in the area was the residence of Abdel Rahim Daglo, the deputy leader of the RSF and brother of its commander, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The army’s recapture of Kafouri further diminishes the RSF’s presence in the capital and signals continued military progress toward regaining full control of Khartoum North, a densely populated area with around one million residents.
Khartoum North, along with Omdurman across the Nile and the city centre to the south, forms the greater Khartoum region.
On Thursday, a military source informed AFP that government forces were advancing towards central Khartoum, nearly two years after the RSF first seized the city at the onset of the conflict.
Eyewitnesses in southern Khartoum reported hearing explosions and gunfire from the city centre on Saturday morning.
These developments mark one of the military’s most significant offensives since war erupted between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former ally Daglo’s RSF, which had rapidly taken control of much of Khartoum and other key areas.
The ongoing conflict has left Sudan in turmoil, displacing over 12 million people and plunging the nation into what the International Rescue Committee has described as the “biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded.”
