Sudanese army says engaged in large-scale battles with paramilitary forces north of capital

Khartoum, May 20 The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said Tuesday that it has been fighting with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since Monday in western and southern Omdurman city, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

"Our forces continue to crush the remaining militia elements in western and southern Omdurman, while advancing to clear the Al-Salha area and its surroundings," SAF spokesperson Nabil Abdalla said in a statement, adding that the SAF is nearing the complete clearance of Khartoum State from RSF fighters.

Footage posted on social media platforms showed the SAF advancing in Al-Salha of western Omdurman and inside the RSF headquarters in the area, reportedly the RSF's last remaining military base in Khartoum State. A local eyewitness told Xinhua news agency that the SAF "recaptured the areas of Wad Bakrawi, Al-Qiaa, and the main market in Al-Salha" on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, a military source, who requested anonymity, said that the SAF, advancing in southern Omdurman, has "taken control of the Al-Muthallath area, west of the Jabal Awliya Dam."

Chairman of Sudan's ruling Transitional Sovereign Council (TSC) Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, also the army chief, on Monday issued a constitutional decree appointing Kamil Idris as the new Prime Minister, the TSC's media office said in a statement.

Idris's appointment comes nearly three weeks after Al-Burhan named Dafallah Al-Haj Ali as acting Prime Minister and cabinet affairs minister.

The Prime Minister's post has been vacant since civilian leader Abdalla Hamdok resigned in January 2022 following a military coup led by Al-Burhan in October 2021.

The coup saw Hamdok and senior officials briefly detained before his reinstatement under a fragile power-sharing deal. Hamdok stepped down weeks later, thrusting the country into a political crisis.

Idris, a legal expert, previously served as Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation and Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

Al-Burhan also issued another decree appointing Salma Abdul Jabbar al-Mubarak and Nawara Abu Muhammad Muhammad Taher as TSC members, representing central and eastern Sudan, according to the statement.

Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict between the SAF and the RSF since April 2023. The war has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes, both within Sudan and across its borders.

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