How strategic is the town of Wad Madani, which was recaptured by the Sudanese army? | Sudan war news

The Sudanese army has recaptured Wad Madani, a strategically important town about 200 km (124 miles) southeast of the capital Khartoum, in a major coup against paramilitaries Rapid Support Force (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 rebel pockets in the city,” the army said in a statement.

This is coming like an army advanced in Omdurman, the country’s second largest city last week after experiencing steady growth in recent months. Wad Madani – a crossroads of key supply highways linking several states – has been under RSF control since December 2023.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, however, insisted that the battle is not over. “Today we lost the round, we didn’t lose the battle,” said Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti.

Since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the army and the RSF over control of the North African nation, more than 12 million people have been displaced, creating one of the the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

So how significant is the recapture of Wad Madani by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF)? Can the army repeat its recent success in recapturing territories still under RSF control?

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

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

According to Al Jazeera reporter Hiba Morgan, whoever controls the agricultural and commercial center has easier access to other parts of the country.

“When the RSF took over Wad Madani in December 2023, it gave it the ability to move to other parts of the country such as Sennar in the southeast, Blue Nile in the east and White Nile in the south. ”, said Morgan, calling from the Sudanese capital.

The city is also at a “very important point” through which supplies and other “logistical arrangements” can be made in the capital, according to Hamid Khalafallah, a Sudanese policy analyst and PhD candidate at the University of Manchester.

“Whoever controls Madani [has] a lot more 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 took over, the city was a safe haven for displaced families.

Since the RSF takeover, it has been the site of one of the bloodiest attacks by paramilitary forces on civilians, as well as burning fields, looting hospitals and markets, and flooding irrigation canals.

Has the Sudanese army captured the entire state of Gezira?

No, the RSF still holds control over most of the country, as well as almost all of Sudan’s western Darfur region and large parts of the country’s south.

The military takeover of the strategic city follows an intensified campaign to recapture Gezira in recent months, following the recapture of Sennar state in the south.

The army was helped by developments in October, when the supreme commander of the RSF in the country defected to the SAF. The commander’s troops participated in Saturday’s operations.

Last week, the army advanced in the second largest city of Omdurman, capturing several areas from the RSF.

How significant is the recapture of the city of Wad Madani?

This represents a significant turn in the war and another blow to the RSF, which has had the upper hand over the army in the nearly two-year conflict.

Capturing the army will give it access to other parts of the country from which the RSF will now be cut off, such as Sennar, Blue Nile and White Nile states.

“Now that [the RSF] lost that territory, that progress that she could have made will not be possible, and her 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 it will boost the army’s morale,” she added.

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

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

In addition, recapturing the city could help Sudan’s hunger crisis, as the country is home to the most fertile land and agricultural schemes in Sudan – with most of the cultivation banned by the RSF, said Khalafallah, the researcher.

“There will now be room for human growth, for agriculture, for food production, and so on, to deal with the growing hunger in Sudan and the food security crisis,” he said.

The unfolding of events could also offer a long-awaited respite to the city’s residents, who are “living through the most horrific violations of human rights and crimes committed by [Rapid] Support forces,” Khalafallah said.

Still, there is a pattern of the military targeting pro-democracy activists in towns it has already recaptured, Khalafallah warned, which could be a worrying development if repeated in Wad Madani.

How much territory does the military now control?

In addition to Wad Madani, the Sudanese army also controls 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 react to the capture?

In Wad Madani, Sudanese troops dressed in camouflage-print uniforms waved rifles in the air as they drove through the town on the backs of their trucks, smiling brightly after claiming to have “liberated” the town, social media footage confirmed by Al showed. Jazeera.

The local resistance committee, one of hundreds of pro-democracy volunteer groups across the country coordinating frontline aid, hailed the progress as the end of RSF “tyranny”.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in army-held towns across Sudan reported dozens of people celebrating in the streets.

In a city surrounded by the Red Sea Port Sudanboisterous crowds waved the Sudanese flag in celebration, verified videos were also shown after the news that the strategic city was occupied under the control of the RSF.

Cries of “one army, one people” were heard in Omdurman, an eyewitness told the AFP news agency.