Taking back vital areas in the heart of Sudan's capital has boosted the army's morale and restored much of its standing after the battlefield setbacks it suffered in the early days of the war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

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