BBC | Sudan's war is in strategic stalemate. Each side stakes its hopes on a new offensive, a new delivery of weapons, a new political alliance, but neither can gain a decisive advantage.
The losers are the Sudanese people. Every month there are more who are hungry, displaced, despairing.
The Sudan armed forces triumphantly announced the recapture of central Khartoum in March.
It broadcast pictures of its leader, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, walking through the ruins of the capital's Republican palace which had been controlled by the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), since the earliest days of the war in April 2023.
The army deployed weapons newly acquired from Egypt, Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries including Qatar and Iran. But its offensive quickly stalled.
The RSF, headed by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as "Hemedti", responded with a devastating drone attack on Port Sudan, which is both the interim capital of the military government and also the main entry point for humanitarian aid.
These were long-range sophisticated drones, which the army accuses the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supplying - a charge the UAE rejects, along with well-documented reports that it has been backing the RSF during the 27-month conflict.
The RSF has also expanded operations to the south of Khartoum.
Hemedti struck a deal with Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, the veteran rebel commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North, which controls the Nuba Mountains near the border with South Sudan.
Their forces combined may be able to make a push to the border with Ethiopia, hoping to open new supply routes.
Meanwhile, the RSF has been besieging the capital of North Darfur, el-Fasher, which is defended by a coalition of Darfurian former rebels, known as the Joint Forces, allied with the army.
Most of the fighters are ethnic Zaghawa, who have been in fierce conflict with the Arab groups that form the core of the RSF.