After getting off his helicopter, he kissed the ground then pumped his fist in the air in victory. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan made a triumphant return to Khartoum on March 26, to celebrate regaining control over the capital, “liberated” from the grip of the paramilitaries.
The army chief had been forced to flee the megapolis nearly two years ago, at the start of the war opposing his Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former ally Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as "Hemedti".
The bloody power struggle has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 10 million displaced.
Forced to change course, RSF retreated across Khartoum on Wednesday, using the Jebel Awliya bridge, the last escape route from the greater Khartoum region. Scenes of joy erupted in various areas of the city following the militia’s retreat.
General al-Burhan ‘back to business’
Launched in September, the Sudanese army’s offensive in Khartoum is a turning point in its war against RSF. The militia controlled certain strategic sites in the capital, including the international airport, the presidential palace and several military bases.
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“Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s return to the presidential palace is a very important symbol within the country as well as abroad,” said Marc Lavergne, Sudan expert with the Paris-based French National Centre for Scientific Research. “He claims to be the legitimate leader of the country, and he is showing the world that he is back to business.”
His return was long awaited. When the war began, the military-led government was forced to move to Port Sudan, the country’s principal port on the Red Sea, located 700 kilometres north-east of the capital.
The Sudanese army struggled to stem RSF’s advance. Besides controlling their historic bastion of Darfur, the militia managed to extend their presence across northern and southern Khartoum. The RSF in 2023 inflicted a particularly humiliating defeat on the army by capturing the city of Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan’s central Al-Jazirah state. The army reversed this defeat by reconquering the megapolis of 400,000 inhabitants in January 2025.
The paramilitary fighters lose ground
The change in the balance of power in favour of the Sudanese army is because the paramilitary fighters are “losing steam”, said Lavergne. “The Rapid Support Forces are not professional soldiers with a real hierarchy and logistical organisation. They wanted to hit hard and fast; they took control over large territories without being able to run them.”
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Since the start of the war, serious acts of violence have been attributed to both sides. The army is accused of carrying out indiscriminate bombings, killing numerous civilians. A strike this week in Tora, in Darfur state, killed several hundred people, according to witnesses.
Accused of numerous massacres, the RSF is considered even more brutal than the Sudanese army. “These are looters who exploit the territories they manage to capture,” said Lavergne.
The RSF’s methods have tarnished their image and weakened their capacity to recruit among the population. The RSF are also confronted by desertions, like that of the war chief Abu Aqla Kikl, who changed sides and joined the Sudanese army in October 2024.
Fear in Darfur
The balance of power between the two warring sides in Sudan has long been relatively stable, despite the Sudanese army’s notable advantage of possessing military aviation. More established in urban combat, the RSF also possesses an arsenal of drones and missiles provided by the United Arab Emirates, their main supporter, although Abu Dhabi denies any implication in the conflict.
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Pressured by losses suffered on the ground, Hemedti embarked on a regional diplomatic tour in Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya. In a quest for legitimacy, he even announced the creation of a “parallel government” during a February visit to Nairobi, to govern the areas under RSF control. The initiative was firmly rejected by SAF leader Burhan who accused Kenyan President William Ruto of supporting his rival.
“The eastern African countries that hosted Hemedti could have maybe weighed in his favour during a negotiation phase. Yet on the military side, I don’t see how RSF could inverse the balance [of power] today,” said Lavergne.
While in Khartoum the army is celebrating the end of fighting, certain observers fear that RSF’s retreat to Darfur, which it still controls, will provoke a new wave of violence against the non-Arab communities, which are often targeted by the paramilitary forces. The United States accused the RSF and allied militias in January of committing genocide, through the systematic murder of “men and boys – even infants – on an ethnic basis”.
This article has been translated from the original in French.