After a week of whirlwind gains for the Sudanese army and allies in the capital Khartoum, leaders hailed a turning point in the civil war, speaking to reporters from inside the army's main headquarters that had been besieged since April 2023.
The recapture of the al-Jaili refinery in northern Bahri, along with swathes of the city across the Nile from Khartoum, set the stage for the breaking the siege of the army General Command on Friday, and for the army to finally solidify positive momentum in the almost two-year war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Civilians could be seen by a Reuters witness cheering in the streets in Bahri and elsewhere, while soldiers surveyed the horizon from blown out windows at the central Khartoum base and celebrated as they roamed its grounds, at peace after a lengthy RSF onslaught.
“From here, the armed forces will move forward to cleanse every remaining inch of our homeland, and from this point, we will see the return of all Sudanese from displacement, allowing them to resume their normal lives in their homeland with security, stability, and, God willing, peace,” said army chief of staff General Mohamed Othaman al-Hussein.
The war has displaced more than 12 million people, while plunging half the population into hunger, for which both the RSF and army are blamed.
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