Sudan’s Army Tightens Knot on RSF, Despite Chinese Drones
2025-05-23662 view
The Sudanese army continued to advance against the Rapid Support Forces in late May, taking control of the group’s last remaining base in Khartoum state—namely the Salha camp, southwest of the capital.
In White Nile state to the south, the army regained control of the village of Al-Alqa, although RSF forces held on to southwestern Duweim, further upriver, resisting the army’s drive to take the entire state. The army has also made progress in Kordofan, seizing the Umm Lababa district, as well as seizing the Atrun district of North Darfur.
On the political front, the Sudanese army also thwarted efforts by the RSF and its political allies to establish a parallel government based out of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. Ahead of the announcement, the army had stepped up its airstrikes on RSF positions, disrupting the situation and postponing the launch of the parallel government, a move mainly aimed at embarrassing the government.
Throughout May, the Sudanese government also waged a diplomatic campaign, aimed at pressuring China to stop selling drones to countries that transfer them to the RSF, which in turn uses them to strike civilian facilities and military bases belonging to the government and the army. The government stepped up its efforts to pressure China after an RSF drone attack on oil depots in Port Sudan in early May 2025.
Khartoum has threatened to freeze its economic relations with Beijing unless the latter stops selling drones to countries it suspects of transferring them to the RSF. In response, Beijing has committed to tightening controls over such sales.
The Sudanese army and government are continuing to combine military operations and political efforts to weaken the position of the RSF, which has been significantly weakened since its loss of the presidential palace and government institutions in Khartoum in March. The army’s main challenge now is to put an end to the bombing of civilian facilities, especially power plants, a strategy the RSF has been using to maintain tension in Sudan despite its territorial losses.
