Sudanese army retakes Khartoum airport from RSF

The Sudanese army has told the BBC it has recaptured the airport in the capital, Khartoum, from the paramilitary RSF, marking its latest territorial gain in the brutal two-year civil war.

Gen Mohamed Abdel Rahman al-Bilawi, commander of the operation in eastern Khartoum, said troops had fully secured it and might be able to clear the rest of the RSF fighters by the end of day.

The army has been moving swiftly since recapturing the presidential palace on Friday and seizing state institutions taken by the RSF.

The RSF had controlled most of Khartoum since the war began in April 2023. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands have been killed, and millions have been forced to flee their homes.

Earlier, an army spokesperson told the BBC that troops had seized Manshiya Bridge, the last RSF-held bridge, along with a military camp in Jebel Awliya, the group’s stronghold in southern Khartoum.

He said the army had now recaptured all the bridges across the River Nile that connect the three cities which make up Greater Khartoum.

Residents have been reporting this week that RSF fighters were retreating southwards, apparently towards Jebel Awliya, the only place they could still cross out of the area.

Videos posted on social media appeared to show some people in central Khartoum celebrating the army’s advance after what many have described as a brutal RSF occupation.

Those unwilling or unable to leave have consistently reported mass looting by the RSF, whose fighters took over civilian homes.

Khartoum is one of the areas of the country the UN said was nearing famine conditions, because of looted markets and restrictions on aid by both sides.

Rights groups have also documented sexual violence and other abuses.

Both the RSF and the army have also been accused of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas.

Earlier this week, the air force bombed a market and eyewitnesses said dozens of civilians were killed.

The military-led government was forced to move to Port Sudan on the Red Sea after the RSF seized control of the capital early in the war.

Recapturing Khartoum is an enormous achievement for the army, which could give it a strategic advantage in the war.

But the war is far from over.

The RSF still holds almost all the Darfur region in western Sudan.

Both sides are backed by foreign powers who have poured weapons into the country, and international efforts to broker peace have failed.