The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said Sunday it had captured the main army headquarters in the besieged city of El Fasher, a potential turning point in the country’s civil war that would cement its control over the Darfur region.
In a statement, the RSF said it had “fully liberated” the 6th Infantry Division base, destroying “huge military vehicles” and seizing military equipment.
Videos circulating online appeared to show RSF fighters inside the army facility.
The Sudanese military has not commented on the claim. The loss of El Fasher, the last army stronghold in Darfur, would be a major strategic and symbolic defeat for the armed forces.
The RSF has besieged El Fasher for months, advancing for weeks on the 6th Division headquarters from multiple directions. While the army and allied armed groups still hold some parts of the city, their positions were not expected to hold out for long if the base fell.
The battle for the city has trapped an estimated 300,000 civilians in a deepening humanitarian catastrophe. Hunger and disease have spread as residents contend with constant bombardment and dwindling supplies of food and medicine. In August, satellite imagery showed extensive earthen berms being constructed around the city, a tactic used to trap people inside.
U.N. investigators have accused the RSF of committing crimes against humanity during the siege. The United States has said the paramilitary force has committed acts of genocide against Darfur’s non-Arab population.
Sudan plunged into conflict in April 2023 after a power struggle erupted between the top commanders of the RSF and the Sudanese army. The war has killed more than 150,000 people and forced about 12 million from their homes, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.