RSF paramilitary seizes control of Wad Madani, Sudan’s second city

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized Wad Madani, the country’s second city, which had taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from the capital, Khartoum, early in the eight-month war between the regular army and the paramilitary RSF.

Videos posted by the RSF on Monday showed fighters in pickup trucks driving along streets in the city, the capital of el-Gezira state.

The RSF advanced after three days of intense fighting, which caused thousands of people to flee the city towards the south. Markets and homes were looted by the army, the police and some civilians on Sunday – and there were fresh reports of looting by RSF fighters on Monday.

During the paramilitary advance on the city, army intelligence units were reported to have arrested civilians based on their ethnicity – particularly those from Darfur, many of whom have been living in el-Gezira for decades as agricultural workers.

Aid organisations, many of which had relocated to the city from Khartoum, were reported to have suspended their work after the RSF advance.

Wad Madani, which was founded about 98 years ago when the country was under British and Egyptian rule, is home to the army’s first infantry division.

Related: Sudan: which powers are vying for influence in vast east African country?

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the war between the two rival forces erupted in April. Six million people have been forced to flee their homes, causing the world’s biggest internal displacement crisis.

Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the army, and Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the RSF, shared power with a civilian government after the 2019 overthrow of the president, Omar al-Bashir. The two generals seized power for themselves in a 2021 coup, only to fall out this year over the timetable for the RSF to be integrated into the army.

Related: Sudan’s cycle of violence: ‘There is a genocide going on in West Darfur’

The RSF has gradually advanced on major cities across the country, taking control of four of Darfur’s states and most of Khartoum. Regional efforts to stop the war have all failed.

The UN said about half of Sudan’s population are facing hunger and more than 20 million children have not been at school since the start of the war. Both sides have been accused of committing mass rapes of women and girls.