Sudan army says its forces enter Wad Madani in push to retake city from RSF

According to the army, the Sudanese military and allied armed groups have entered Wad Madani and are attempting to oust the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary from the strategically important city of Gezira state.

In a statement on Saturday, the armed forces “congratulated” the Sudanese people on “our forces entering the city of Wad Madani this morning” after more than a year of RSF control.

According to the statement, “They are now working to clean up the city’s last rebel pockets.”

The RSF did not respond right away.

According to information and culture minister Khalid al-Aiser, a spokesperson for the army-allied government, the army “liberated” the city.

The RSF has been occupying the city since December 2023, and the army posted a video that appears to show soldiers inside.

Since April 2023, Sudan’s army and the RSF have been at war, leading to the worst displacement crisis in parts of the nation, which the UN refers to as “the world’s worst displacement crisis” and famine declarations in some parts of the country.

Wad Madani, the closest major town to Khartoum, is strategic because it is situated at the intersection of important supply highways that connect several states.

Army “in the majority of Wad Madani”

Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said the army forces had been advancing towards the city over recent days.

They have taken control of the southern and southern districts of the state of [Gezira], but they finally took control of Hantoub Bridge, a crucial bridge leading into the city, this morning, she said.

“The army is now in most parts of Wad Madani”, she added.

One witness in Wad Madani’s central Wad Madani complained to the AFP news agency that “the army and allied fighters have spread out across the city’s streets,” requesting anonymity for safety.

Both the army and the RSF have been accused of committing war crimes, including shelling residential areas and targeting civilians.

Summary killings, widespread looting, systematic sexual abuse, and the paramilitary forces’ accusations of putting towns under siege have been reported.

The United States on Tuesday said the RSF had “committed genocide” and imposed sanctions on its leader, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti.

The local resistance committee, one of the hundreds of pro-democracy volunteer organizations coordinating frontline aid, applauded the Wad Madani advance as a “tyranny” of the RSF.

Hundreds of people reportedly took to the streets to celebrate the news in Sudanese cities, according to witnesses.

Twelve million displaced

One of the biggest humanitarian crises in history has been brought on by the recapture of Gezira state as a whole, which could be the turning point of the conflict that started with disputes over how to integrate the two forces.

More than 12 million people have been displaced, including more than 3 million who have fled across borders, and the war has since started, causing tens of thousands of deaths.

More than half a million people in Gezira were seeking shelter in the first months of the conflict, according to the UN, before a lightning RSF offensive displaced upwards of 300,000 in December 2023.

Since the feared paramilitaries have been relocating, the majority have repeatedly been.

The RSF still controls the majority of Sudan’s southern region, nearly all of its western border, and large portions of Gezira, the state’s center.