Sudan’s army chief has lambasted “negligent” commanders after a rival paramilitary group captured the strategic city of Wad Madani.

The army had been criticised for leaving the capital of Gezira state, without putting up a fight.

More than 300,000 people have fled Gezira, which had been seen as a safe haven in eight-month the civil war.

Four days after Wad Madani’s fall, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan addressed the matter publicly.

“We will hold every negligent commander accountable. Those who were responsible for this withdrawal will also be held accountable without leniency,” he said.

The army says it will investigate the “surprise withdrawal”, which enabled the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to take control of Wad Madani.

The RSF announced that they have captured the entire Gezira state but the BBC has been unable to verify this. However, aid workers have been pulling out of neighbouring areas in case the fighting continues to spread.

The paramilitary group has been battling the army across Sudan since April – a war which has forced around seven million people to flee their homes, the UN says.

Hundreds and thousands had fled from unsafe areas, like the capital city, Khartoum, to Gezira and Wad Madani.

Islamic Relief Sudan Director Elsadig Elnour was in Wad Madani when fighting broke out, and told BBC Newsday that civilians there were”panicked”.

Of Wad Madani’s large population of displaced people, Mr Elnour said: “Already they’re not recovered from the trauma they had in Khartoum and again they’ve started to move to other places in Sudan.

“They don’t know where to settle and who will provide assistance to them.”

Along with housing displaced people, Wad Madani also replaced Khartoum as a hub for aid operations when the conflict began.

Since the RSF took control of the city, many of these aid groups have left for other regions.

Staff at medical charity EMERGENCY NGO are among those who fled Wad Madani, with Programme Coordinator Dr Gina Portella calling the situation a “disaster”.

Dr Portella said Wad Madani remains “basically without many services” now that charities have pulled out.

Her team has struggled to monitor the whereabouts and welfare of their patients in Wad Madani due to poor telecommunications in the city.

“We hope in a few days we will be able to understand where they are,” she said.

Many aid workers and civilians who fled Wad Madani have now moved to Gedaref, Sennar and White Nile states.

There is growing unease that the RFS may now attempt to capture Gedaref, east of Gezira.

In light of these concerns, Mr Elnour says he has prepared to move his Islamic Relief staff from Gedaref.

“Everyone is panicking – even in other cities than Gedaref – that the RSF will escalate the war and reach Gedaref,” he said.

UN secretary-general spokesman Stephane Dujarric has said Sudan is experiencing the world’s largest displacement crisis.

Before the war began, the RSF and the army had shared power with civilians after the overthrow of former strongman Omar al-Bashir. The two factions then staged a coup together in 2021.

War between the two sides erupted this year following a disagreement over an internationally backed political transition plan.

As well as displacing millions, the conflict has left Khartoum in ruins, caused a humanitarian crisis and triggered ethnically driven killings in Darfur, where the RSF has captured several key cities.

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