Sudan’s army claims control of national broadcast building

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s army said on Tuesday it had taken control of the state broadcast building from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), its paramilitary rival that seized the site in the first days of the war nearly 11 months ago.

The broadcast headquarters lies in Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum that forms part of Sudan’s wider capital, where the army has claimed recent gainsafter a string of military losses.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

A video posted by the army, the location of which was verified by Reuters, showed some of its troops within a kilometre of the radio and TV building cheering after they had seized vehicles and weapons.

War between Sudan’s army and the RSF erupted in mid-April 2023 amid tensions over a plan for transition to civilian rule.

The two factions had staged a coup in 2021 that derailed a previous transition following the 2019 overthrow of autocratic former leader Omar al-Bashir.

The war has devastated the capital, sparked waves of ethnically driven killings in the western region of Darfur and created the world’s biggest displacement crisis.

National TV and radio have been broadcasting from Port Sudan, the Red Sea coastal city from which officials aligned with the army have operated since the RSF occupied large swathes of the capital early in the war.