A New York Times reporter and photographer were the first Western journalists to visit central Khartoum since the civil war broke out two years ago. The scale of how much has been lost was inescapable.

Sudan’s military says it retook the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last heavily guarded bastion in the capital of rival paramilitary forces, after nearly two years of fighting

The recapture of the presidential palace caps several months in which momentum in Sudan ’s civil war swung decisively in the SAF’s favour. If the army can consolidate control of Khartoum it would allow Gen Burhan to install a transitional government and attempt to gain wider international recognition.