Sudan's army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan on Wednesday made only his second public appearance since his troops started fighting a powerful paramilitary group in Khartoum a month ago.
The general wore camouflage pants, a matching T-shirt and a jungle hat. An AK-47 rifle was strung over his shoulder. He had a pistol on his right hip.
Scores of soldiers cheering, ululating and chanting "Allahu Akbar" surrounded him as he walked outside a gate bearing an Arabic sign that says "Headquarters of the Ground Forces," suggesting they were in central Khartoum.
The soldiers embraced and kissed a smiling Gen Al Burhan as he shook hands with many of them before he sat in the passenger seat of what appeared to be a military pickup truck.
Fighters loyal to Gen Al Burhan's adversary in the war that began on April 15 – Gen Mohamed Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces – are believed to be in partial control of the armed forces' headquarters in central Khartoum, and the nearby, Nile-side Republican Palace, Sudan's traditional seat of government.
Gen Al Burhan did not say anything in the footage, released by the military late on Wednesday night.
Gen Al Burhan's first public appearance since the war broke out was in the early days, when he appeared to walk at night, shaking hands with troops standing next to tanks and other armoured vehicles.
Gen Dagalo's only public appearance since the war began was also in the early days of the conflict when he was briefly shown in video footage while in the passenger seat of an all-terrain vehicle.
This week, the RSF released an audio recording in which he denied rumours that was killed.
Gen Al Burhan's Wednesday appearance came just hours after the UN said more than half of Sudan's population now needed aid and protection.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in Geneva, said 25 million people needed help, the highest number ever recorded in Sudan.
Before the conflict, the figure was about 15 million. Ocha appealed for $2.6 billion in aid.
Showing no let-up in the conflict, anti-aircraft guns and drones could be heard on Wednesday in the capital, residents said.
"We have been moving from one place to the other in past days," Abbas Al Sayyed, 27, said by phone from Bahri, a city adjoining the capital Khartoum.
"There is no electricity, no water at all, and even the bread we used to get in the first days of the war, we can’t get now. We can't move out."
Khartoum has been the main centre of the conflict, which has killed hundreds and wounded thousands.
Across Sudan, the fighting has uprooted close to 1 million people, 220,000 of whom have fled into neighbouring states.
Talks mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia in Jeddah have so far failed to secure a ceasefire.
The sides agreed last week to a statement of principles on protecting civilians and allowing aid supplies, but arrangements for humanitarian corridors and agreeing on a truce are still being discussed.
Several earlier ceasefires have failed to stop the fighting.
The conflict is likely to dominate deliberations during an Arab Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia on Friday.
With aid agencies unable to gain access to the capital, the distribution of medical aid, food and fuel in the Khartoum area has fallen to local groups known as the Resistance Committees, which had led protests against the military after Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo seized power in a 2021 coup.
The two generals took the top positions on Sudan's ruling council after the 2019 overthrow of dictator Omar Al Bashir during a popular uprising.
The continuing conflict erupted after disputes over plans for the RSF to be integrated into the army and the future chain of command under an internationally backed deal for a political transition towards civilian rule and elections.
Sudan's Al Burhan makes second public appearance since fighting began
