How strategic is the city of Wad Madani, which was retaken by the Sudanese army? | Sudan War News

The Sudanese army also captured Wad Madani, the most important town in the area about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of the capital Khartoum, and attacked the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“The military leadership congratulates our people for the entry of our soldiers into Wad Madani this morning. They are now working to clear the remaining rebels inside the city,” read a military statement.

This comes as the army advanced on the country’s second largest city Omdurman last week after steady gains in recent months. Wad Madani – a major road junction connecting several provinces – has been under RSF control since December 2023.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, however, insisted that the war is not over. “Today we lost in the round, we did not lose in the war,” said Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti.

Since war broke out in April 2023 between the army and the RSF for control of the North African nation, more than 12 million people have been displaced, creating one of the world’s worst disasters.

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

Is Wad Madani well placed? Where is it located?

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

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

“When the RSF captured Wad Madani in December 2023, that gave them the power 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 as well. ,” said Morgan, reporting from the Sudanese capital.

The city is also in a “very important location” from which to import goods and other “logistics” into the capital, according to Hamid Khalafallah, a Sudanese policy analyst and PhD candidate at the University of Manchester.

“Who controls Madani [has] more flexibility in terms of different things going into Khartoum and going out of 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 took over, it has been one of the areas where the army has attacked civilians with great bloodshed, as well as burning fields, looting hospitals and markets, and flooding irrigation canals.

Has the Sudanese army captured the entire region of Gezira?

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

The army’s capture of this important city follows the strengthening of its campaign to capture Gezira in the recent past, after recapturing the region of Sennar in the south.

The military was helped by a change of circumstances in October, when the top commander of the RSF in the province defected to the SAF. The commander’s troops were part of Saturday’s operation.

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

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

This represents a major turn of events in the war and another blow to the RSF, which has had a strong hand against the army for nearly two years.

The capture of the army will allow it to reach other parts of the country where the RSF will be cut off now, such as the regions of Sennar, Blue Nile, and White Nile.

“Now that [the RSF] lost that area, the progress it was able to make will not be there, and its forces in those areas will be trapped between the Sudanese military forces,” said Morgan.

“Wad Madani is also where the first infantry division is located, so that will give the soldiers morale,” he added.

When the RSF took over the city, there were many complaints among officers and soldiers that the leadership did not meet the standards of the Sudanese army and that someone should replace the leadership, Morgan explained.

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

Additionally, urban regeneration could help with Sudan’s hunger problem, as the country is home to some of the most fertile areas and Sudan’s agricultural systems – most farming is prohibited under the RSF, said Khalafallah, the researcher.

“Now there will be room for people to grow, and farm, and produce food, and so on, to address Sudan’s ongoing hunger and food security crisis,” he said.

The turn of events may also provide long-awaited respite to the city’s residents, who “have suffered the most horrific human rights violations and atrocities [Rapid] Support Forces,” said Khalafallah.

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

How much territory is controlled by the military now?

Beyond 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 people of Sudan react to the captivity?

In Wad Madani, Sudanese soldiers in camo-print uniforms waved their guns in the air as they rode into town on the back of their trucks, smiling after they “liberated” the town, social media posts confirmed by Al Jazeera shows.

The local opposition committee, one of hundreds of pro-democracy volunteer groups across the country coordinating the frontline aid, hailed this early as the end of RSF’s “tyranny”.

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

In the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, rioting crowds raised the Sudanese flag in celebration, verified videos also showed, following news that the strategic city had been removed from RSF control.

In Omdurman, chants of “one army, one people” erupted, an eyewitness told AFP news agency.