How strategic is the city of Wad Madani, taken back by the Sudanese army? , sudan war news

Sudan’s army has recaptured the strategically important town of Wad Madani, about 200 km (124 miles) southeast of the capital Khartoum, in a major blow to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“The leadership of the armed forces congratulates our people on the entry of our forces into Wad Madani this morning. They are now working to clear the remaining insurgent areas inside the city,” an army statement said.

It comes as the army advanced on Omdurman, the country’s second-largest city, last week after making steady gains in recent months. Wad Madani – the crossroads of major supply highways linking several states – had been under RSF control since December 2023.

However, RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo insisted that the fighting was not over. “Today we lost a round, we did not lose the fight,” said Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

More than 12 million people have been displaced since fighting between the army and the RSF over control of the North African nation began in April 2023, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

So how significant is the recapture of Wad Madani by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)? Can the army repeat its recent success as it aims to capture areas still under RSF control?

How well positioned is Wad Madani strategically? Where is it located?

The city is the capital of Gezira State, located in the center of the country and south of Khartoum.

According to Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, whoever controls the agricultural and trading centers has easy access to other parts of the country.

“When the RSF captured Wad Madani in December 2023, it also gave it the ability to be able to move into other parts of the country such as Sennar in the south-east, Blue Nile in the east and White Nile in the south. ,” Morgan said, reporting from the Sudanese capital.

According to Hamid Khalafallah, a Sudan policy analyst and PhD candidate at the University of Manchester, the city is at “a very critical point” through which supplies and other “logistical arrangements” can be made to the capital.

“Whoever controls Madani has a lot of flexibility in terms of different things in Khartoum and outside Khartoum,” Khalafallah told Al Jazeera.

In the early days of the conflict, before the RSF came to power, the city was a safe haven for displaced families.

Since the RSF’s takeover, it has been the site of one of the paramilitary’s bloodiest attacks on civilians, with farms being burned, hospitals and markets looted, and irrigation canals flooded.

Has the Sudanese army captured the entire Gezira state?

No, the RSF still retains control of most of the state, as well as almost all of Sudan’s West Darfur region and large parts of the country’s south.

The army’s capture of the strategic city follows its powerful campaign to capture Gezira after seizing Sennar state in the south in recent months.

The army was helped by developments in October, when the top RSF commander in the state joined the SAF. The commander’s troops took part in Saturday’s operation.

Last week, the army advanced into Omdurman, the second-largest city, and captured several neighborhoods from the RSF.

How important is the recapture of Wad Madani city?

It marks a significant turn of events in the war and another blow to the RSF, which has dominated against the army in the nearly two-year conflict.

The army’s capture would allow it to reach other parts of the country from which the RSF would now be cut off, such as Sennar, Blue Nile and White Nile states.

“Now that (the RSF) has lost that territory, the advances it was able to make will not be possible and its forces in those areas will be trapped between the forces of the Sudanese army,” Morgan said.

“Wad Madani is also where the army’s first infantry division is based, so this will boost the morale of the army,” he said.

When the RSF took over the city, there were a lot of complaints among officers and soldiers that the leadership was not meeting the standards of the Sudanese army and that there should be a replacement of the leadership, Morgan explained.

“Now that Wad Madani is back under the control of the Sudanese army, the army – especially its leadership – is likely to receive greater support, not only from soldiers and officers but also from Sudanese civilians,” she said.

Additionally, recapturing the city could help Sudan’s hunger crisis, as the state is home to some of Sudan’s most fertile land and agricultural schemes – most farming is prohibited under the RSF, said researcher Khalafallah.

“There will now be room for people to grow, farm and produce food, etc. to combat the growing famine and food security crisis in Sudan,” he said.

Khalafallah said the developments could provide long-awaited relief to the city’s residents, who “are facing the most horrific human rights violations and atrocities committed by the (Rapid) Support Forces.”

Still, there has been a pattern of the military targeting pro-democracy activists in cities they have already captured, which could be a worrying development if repeated in Wad Madani, Khalafallah warned.

How much area does the army now control?

Beyond Wad Madani, Sudanese forces control the north and east of the country, as well as parts of the capital. The map below shows the areas of control between the SAF and the RSF as of October 2024.

How did the Sudanese people react to the occupation?

Social media footage verified by Al Jazeera shows that in Wad Madani, Sudanese soldiers wearing camo-print uniforms waved their rifles in the air as they drove through the city on the back of their trucks, claiming to have “liberated” the city. Were smiling after doing it.

The Local Resistance Committee, one of hundreds of pro-democracy volunteer groups coordinating front-line aid across the country, hailed the development as an end to RSF’s “tyranny”.

Meanwhile, in army-controlled cities across Sudan, witnesses reported dozens of people celebrating in the streets.

In the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, unruly crowds celebrated and waved Sudanese flags following news that the strategic city had been wrested from RSF control, verified videos showed.

In Omdurman, chants of “one army, one people” began, a witness told news agency AFP.