Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan visited the Presidential Palace in Khartoum after landing at the city’s international airport hours after the army was recaptured.
Burhan is surrounded by cheering soldiers on the ground, an important symbol of absolute power and sovereignty – declared the capital “freedom” of the paramilitary rapid support force.
“Khartoum is free and has been completed,” he said.
It is believed that this is the first time that Bernham has entered the Presidential Palace since the war began about two years ago.
After the military-led government seized control of the capital early in the war, it was forced to move to the Port of Sultan of the Red Sea.
Earlier, an Army commander told the BBC that his troops had fully protected the airport and hoped to clear the remaining RSF fighters at the end of the day.
The Army has been acting quickly since recapturing the presidential palace on Friday and seizing the state institutions adopted by the RSF.
The RSF has been controlling most of Khartoum since the war began in April 2023. Nationwide, thousands were killed and millions were forced to flee their homes.
An army spokesman also said that the troops had recaptured all the bridges on the Nile on the Nile, which connected three cities that make up the larger Khartoum, and the military camp of the group’s stronghold in southern Hartum.
Residents reported this week that RSF fighters were retreating south, apparently to Jebel Awliya, the only exit route left for them.
Drone video released by the Army shows people passing through a dam on a bridge. The BBC was unable to verify who it was, but the military said it was an RSF fighter jet fleeing Khartoum.
Videos posted on social media seem to celebrate the progress of the military after showing some in central Khartoum what many call a cruel RSF career.
Those who are reluctant or unable to leave have been reporting on RSF’s massive robbery, with RSF’s fighters taking over civilian houses.
Khartoum is one of what the United Nations calls the country’s near-famine areas, as markets are plundered and restrictions on both sides’ aid.
Rights groups also document sexual violence and other abuses.
Both the RSF and the Army were accused of shelling civilians indiscriminately.
Earlier this week, the Air Force bombed a market with witnesses saying dozens of civilians were killed.
The recapture of Khartoum was a great achievement of the army, which could have a strategic advantage in the war.
But the war is far from over.
RSF still owns almost all Darfur region in Western Sudan.
Both sides have been supported by foreign powers that have poured their weapons into the country, and international efforts to make peace have failed.
More BBC stories about Sudan:
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