Can the Sudanese army sustain its recent battlefield success?

The Sudanese army is showing signs of life on the battlefield yet experts are unsure whether it can sustain it.

Recent battlefield victories have supporters of Sudan’s army believing it can turn the tide against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, yet experts are ambivalent.

On March 12, the army recaptured the national radio and television building in Omdurman, Sudan’s second largest city and one-third of the national capital region.

The victory came weeks after the army broke an RSF siege to retake other neighbourhoods in Omdurman.

“I wouldn’t be super optimistic, because it’s one thing to take over territory and it’s quite another to hold on to territory,” said Hagar Ali, an expert on military-civilian relations in Sudan and a PhD candidate at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies.

Despite the caution, the army’s recent victories do seem to cast doubt over the RSF’s ability to conquer the entire country, which had seemed likely after it captured Gezira state in December.