WAD MADANI/PORT SUDAN: Civilians and soldiers celebrated in Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan`s El Gezira state, after it was recaptured by the Sudanese army from the paramilitary Rapid Support Services, marking a possible turning point in a devastating near twoyear civil war.

`We are so happy, we can`t express ourselves,` said one woman on Sunday, as soldiers shot into the air and people cheered on the streets. `A whole year we have been squeezed, we haven`t been able to breathe.

The war began in the capital Khartoum in April 2023 over the integration of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Services (RSF). It has created one of the world`s largest humanitarian crises, pushing more than 12 million people out of their homes, and plunging half of the population into hunger.

The RSF`s occupation of El Gezira turned the fertile state into one at risk of famine. Its tight-knit villages were emptied out by violent raids asfields lay fallow or were set on fire, residents and eyewitnesses have said. The RSF denies the accusations and says it is fighting rogue actors who are committing abuses.

The army`s ability to regain full control of the state would be pivotal in its attempts to choke the RSF`s supply lines to Khartoum and the army-controlled eastern half of the country. The RSF still controls most of the capital.

`The SAF`s capture of Wad Madani boosts its own morale and puts large RSF contingents at risk of encirclement in the area,` said Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. `It also frees the SAF to intensify pressure on Khartoum before potentially shifting its focus westward,` he said, while warning that the RSF could launch a counteroffensive on alFashir, the army`s last remaining holdout in the western Darfur region.

`This is a big victory that we thank God for, but we are not stopping, we are going swiftly, we are in a hurry, and God-willing soon every inch of Sudan will be cleansed, General Shams el-Din Kabbashi, deputy leader of the armed forces, told troops and civilians in Madani.

The bodies of RSF soldiers could be seen on the road and bridge lead-ing into the city, but eyewitnesses reported few clashes inside Madani.

The relatively swift takeover comes after weeks of advances by the army in surrounding villages, newly equipped in recent months with fresh armaments and new recruits to allied forces.

The Joint Forces, a collection of former rebel groups, as well as Sudan Shield, led by RSF defector Abuagla Keikal, participated in the recapturing of Wad Madani. The RSF chose to withdraw after being overwhelmed in the lead-up to the takeover, sources in the paramilitary said. They added that its soldiers were exhausted by airstrikes and by dwindling stocks of ammunition and supplies.

Engulfed electrical infrastructure As forces were celebrating the recapture of capital of Sudan`s El Gezira state, the seat of Sudan`s army-aligned government ,however, battled power outages on Monday after a drone attack blamed on paramilitaries hit a major hydroelectric dam in the war-torn country`s north, eyewitness said.

The Sudanese army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, said in a statement that the attack on Merowe Dam was part of a `systematic campaign` against militarysites but also targeting `vital` infrastructure.

Eyewitness in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where the army-aligned government and the United Nations have been based since the war`s early days, said widespread power outages have persisted since early Monday.

The army said that Merowe Dam and its power station, located about 350 kilometres north of the capital Khartoum and serving Port Sudan and other areas, were hit by `a number of suicide drones`.

`Some losses were incurred, which will be repaired,` the army statement said. Online footage showed fires engulfing the dam`s electrical infrastructure. Since the early morning attack, local media said that the army-controlled cities of Atbara, Dongola and Omdurman across the Nile from Khartoum have also been hit by power outages.

In November last year, the army accused the RSF of targeting Merowe with 16 drones, though no casualties or significant damage were reported at the time. The dam is one of Sudan`s biggest sources of hydroelectric power. Merowe city, in Sudan`s Northern State, is also home to a major military airport.

The latest attack came two days after the army recaptured WadMadani, the capital of the central state of Al-Jazira, after more than a year of paramilitary control.

In addition to decimating Sudan`s already fragile infrastructure, the war has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and pushed many Sudanese to the brink of famine.

They withdrew northwards towards other towns in the state andKhartoum, eyewitnesses said, chased by army airstrikes. Fiercer fighting could be expected as the RSF fights to maintain control of Khartoum, where the army has made gains, the RSF sources said.

Many of the paramilitary`s fighters come from militias and tribal groups outside of Gezira and had little will to fight for the country`s centre, the RSF sources added.-Agencies