CAIRO: Sudanese army said on Saturday it had entered the central city of Wad Madani and was pushing out its paramilitary rivals the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a step which if completed successfully would be its biggest gain in nearly two years of war.
The Sudanese army posted a video appearing to show troops inside the city, which is the capital of El Gezira state, an agricultural and trading hub that has been held by the RSF since December 2023.
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Recapture of the state as a whole could mark a turning point in the war that began in April 2023 over disputes on the integration of the two forces, which has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with the displacement of more than 12 million people and half the population facing hunger.
“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 clean up the remaining rebel pockets inside the city,” an army statement said.
In a speech shared on Telegram, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the RSF – also known as Hemedti – acknowledged defeat but insisted that the battle was not over.
“We lost Wad Madani, but we will reclaim it. People just need to regroup, reorganise and reassess themselves,” he added.
Hemedti also attributed the defeat to what he described as the Sudanese army’s reliance on Iranian drones and fighters from Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Meanwhile, a Reuters report found that dozens of planes had flown from the United Arab Emirates to Chad, likely to resupply the RSF in Chad. The UAE denies the accusations, though a UN panel of experts deemed them credible.
El Gezira state, located in the center of the country and south of the capital Khartoum has seen some of the RSF’s bloodiest attacks on civilians, as well as the burning of fields, looting of hospitals and markets, and flooding of irrigation ditches.
Despite a long history as an agricultural trade hub, Madani has been marked by experts as an area at risk of famine due to the blockades imposed as part of the conflict.
The army had stepped up its campaign to retake El Gezira in recent months, after retaking Sennar state in the south, including by increasing airstrikes that have often hit civilians.
The RSF’s top commander in the state defected to the army in October, and his troops took part in Saturday’s operations, though the RSF responded at the time with a series of attacks.
The army also on Saturday continued its operations on the city of Bahri, part of the greater capital, where it has also made advances in recent months.
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The RSF controls most of the west of the country, where it is fighting the army for al-Fashir, its last stronghold in the Darfur region. The two forces are also actively fighting over White Nile state in the south of the country.