How strategic is Wad Madani town, retaken by means of Sudanese military? | Sudan struggle Information


PeoplSudan’s military has recaptured Wad Madani, a strategically remarkable town some 200km (124 miles) southeast of the capital Khartoum, in a big fritter to the paramilitary Fast Backup 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 clean up the remaining rebel pockets inside the city,” a military observation learn.

This comes as the military complex into the rustic’s second-largest town Omdurman utmost pace upcoming making secure good points in contemporary months. Wad Madani – the crossroads of key provide highways linking a number of states – were underneath RSF regulate since December 2023.

RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alternatively, insisted that the fight was once now not over. “Today we lost a round, we did not lose the battle,” mentioned Dagalo, who’s often referred to as Hemedti.

Since preventing erupted in April 2023 between the military and the RSF over regulate of this North African folk, greater than 12 million population were displaced, developing some of the international’s greatest humanitarian crises.

So how important is the recapture of Wad Madani by means of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)? Can the military repeat its contemporary luck because it targets to recapture territories nonetheless underneath RSF regulate?

How strategically positioned is Wad Madani? The place is it situated?

Town is the capital of Gezira order, situated within the centre of the rustic and south of Khartoum.

In line with Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, whoever has regulate of the rural and buying and selling hub has more uncomplicated get admission to to alternative portions of the rustic.

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

Town may be at “a very important point” by which provides and alternative “logistical arrangements” can also be made into the capital, in line with Hamid Khalafallah, a Sudan coverage analyst and PhD candidate on the College of Manchester.

“Whoever controls Madani [has] a lot more flexibility in terms of different stuff into Khartoum and out of Khartoum,” Khalafallah advised Al Jazeera.

Within the early days of the warfare, earlier than the RSF took over, town was once a shield haven for displaced households.

For the reason that RSF’s takeover, it’s been some of the websites of the paramilitary pressure’s bloodiest assaults on civilians, in addition to the burning of grounds, looting of hospitals and markets, and overflow of irrigation ditches.

Has the Sudanese military captured all of the Gezira order?

Disagree, the RSF nonetheless keeps regulate of many of the order, in addition to the vast majority of Sudan’s western Darfur patch and immense portions of the rustic’s south.

The military’s takeover of the strategic town follows its reinforced marketing campaign to retake Gezira in contemporary months, upcoming retaking Sennar order within the south.

The military was once helped by means of the flip of occasions in October, when RSF’s lead commander within the order defected to the SAF. The commander’s troops took phase in Saturday’s operations.

Extreme pace, the military complex within the second-largest town Omdurman, taking pictures a number of boxes from the RSF.

How important is the recapture of Wad Madani town?

This represents a vital flip of occasions within the struggle and any other fritter to the RSF, which has had an higher hand towards the army within the just about two-year warfare.

The military’s seize will permit it to get admission to alternative portions of the rustic that the RSF will now be short off from, such because the Sennar, Blue Nile, and White Nile states.

“Now that [the RSF] lost that territory, that progress that it was able to make will not be possible, and its forces in those areas will be trapped between forces of the Sudanese army,” mentioned Morgan.

“Wad Madani is also where the army’s first infantry division is located, so that is going to give the army a morale boost,” she added.

When the RSF took over town, there have been a accumulation of lawsuits amongst officials and squaddies that the management was once now not assembly the factors of the Sudanese military and that there will have to be a substitute of the management, defined Morgan.

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

Moreover, town’s recapture may help in Sudan’s starvation disaster, because the order is house to Sudan’s maximum productive lands and agriculture schemes – with maximum farming cancelled underneath the RSF, mentioned Khalafallah, the researcher.

“Now there will be room for people to grow, and to farm, and for food to be produced, and so on, to address Sudan’s unfolding famine and food security crisis,” he mentioned.

The flip of occasions might also do business in long-awaited respite to town’s citizens, who “have been experiencing the most horrific human rights violations and atrocities committed by the [Rapid] Support Forces”, Khalafallah mentioned.

Nonetheless, there was a trend of the military focused on pro-democracy activists within the towns they’ve already recaptured, Khalafallah warned, which generally is a being concerned building if repeated in Wad Madani.

How a lot range does the military regulate now?

Past Wad Madani, the Sudanese military additionally controls the north and east of the rustic, in addition to portions of the capital. The map underneath signifies boxes of regulate between the SAF and the RSF, as of October 2024.

INTERACTIVE - Who controls what in Sudan-1731503278

How did Sudanese population react to the seize?

In Wad Madani, Sudanese troops garbed in camo-print uniforms waved their rifles within the wind as they rode thru the city at the again in their vehicles, flashing smiles upcoming claiming to “liberate” town, social media pictures verified by means of Al Jazeera presentations.

The native resistance committee, one in all masses of pro-democracy volunteer teams around the nation coordinating front-line help, hailed the go as an finish to “the tyranny” of the RSF.

In the meantime, observers in army-controlled towns throughout Sudan reported dozens jubilantly celebrating within the streets.

Within the Pink Sea-flanked town of Port Sudan, loud crowds waved the Sudanese flag in party, verified movies additionally confirmed, following the inside track that the strategic town were taken from the RSF’s regulate.

In Omdurman, chants of “one army, one people” poor out, an witness advised the AFP information company.

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