What is behind the declaration of “armed popular resistance” in Sudan?

The deployment of the Rapid Support Forces in Al-Jazira State in central Sudan after taking control of Wad Madani, the state capital, a week ago, and accusing it of committing “widespread violations of plunder, robbery, killing, and abuse,” prompted large sectors of the “armed popular resistance” to organize to defend themselves and their property.

Campaigns to mobilize, train, and arm citizens were organized in the states of Gezira, White Nile, Sennar, Gedaref, River Nile, Northern, Kassala, and Red Sea, under the name of “armed popular resistance.”

Some state governors and military leaders in areas under the army’s military control addressed mass meetings organized by popular and tribal leaders, urging citizens to take up arms to defend themselves.

Wide spread

The Rifa’a, Shukriya, Kawahla, Ja’alin, Beja, and Rashaida tribes also issued separate statements in which they called on the Rapid Support Forces to “stop” from “killing citizens and looting their property,” and called on their sons to take up arms to defend themselves and their land and confront the “aggressors.”

The Governor of the Nile River State, Muhammad al-Badawi, said in front of thousands of citizens of the city of Shendi last Sunday that they would train young people to carry weapons, and the Artillery Commander, Major General Muhammad al-Amin, pledged that he would open weapons stores to distribute them to volunteers.

In a meeting in the coastal city of Suakin, the Governor of the Red Sea State, Mustafa Mohamed Nour, announced the inauguration of the “armed popular resistance” on Monday, and stressed the readiness of the citizens of his state to defend their region.

For his part, the leader of the Beja tribes in eastern Sudan, Muhammad Al-Amin Turk, said in front of thousands of tribesmen that the time for negotiations with the Rapid Support has ended, and that they are ready to take up arms to defeat “the rebellion, and the east will be their graveyard if they try to attack it,” as he put it.

Last June, Al-Burhan announced general mobilization and alert, and called on young people who are able to carry weapons to go to the nearest military unit. The number of citizens trained in the states during the past months was estimated at more than 400,000