As the war rages on, the resistance committees are keeping Sudan’s revolution alive – but only just
They ousted a dictator, defied a junta and now Sudan’s resistance committees are desperate to preserve their communities amidst the war. Mark Weston spoke to one committee member in Khartoum.
Mark Weston
We will call her Amal. That’s not her real name, but using her real name could get her abducted or killed.
She lives in the east of Khartoum, close to the River Nile, and she is a member of her local neighbourhood resistance committee. This committee’s 80 members include students, blue- and white-collar workers, artists, activists, journalists, trade unionists and members of political parties.
Many are women.
There are hundreds of such committees in Khartoum, and thousands countrywide. In the absence of a functioning government, they often provide the only semblance of governance – informal, democratic bodies that respond to the needs of their local communities, while pushing for national reform.
Their impact has been phenomenal.
It was these largely youth-led groups that spearheaded a peaceful revolution that put an end to the 30-year tyranny of the brutal dictator Omar al-Bashir. As the uprising spread, thousands of resistance committees were formed across the country. Amal’s formed in December 2018.
“We came together organically, organising night marches and stand-up protests in the neighbourhood and participating in the main protests in the city centre as well,” says Amal.
The committees worked together to coordinate daily demonstrations that drew hundreds of thousands of participants. Local committees planned and publicised routes, raised money to treat those who were injured by security forces, supported the families of the many who were killed, and created neighbourhood spaces for discussion and debate.
By April the next year, Bashir was out.
But the resistance committees were not done. They continued to organise massive sit-ins, especially in Khartoum, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered daily to demand civilian rule instead of the military junta that removed Bashir.
Traffic was banished from the vast sit-in site outside the army headquarters, and barricades erected to keep the security forces out. Artists, musicians, singers and dancers converged to promote the revolution. Banners were posted to show protesters, many of whom had been kept in the dark, the full extent of Bashir’s atrocities. Street children were given free food.
Then came the brutal backlash. In June 2019, the sit-in was dispersed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful militia group that was part of the junta.
Hundreds of protestors were killed, and dozens raped.
Committees publicised routes, raised money to treat those who were injured by security forces, supported the families of the many who were killed, and created spaces for discussion and debate.
This was a wake-up call for the committees. “After the Khartoum sit-in, members became more aware of political dynamics,” says Amal. Nonetheless, they continued to push hard for a government led by civilians, and their calls caught the attention of the international community, which forced the generals to form a joint military-civilian transitional government.
This did not last long. In 2021, the generals ousted the civilians in a coup d’état. And then, in 2023, they turned on each other. Since then, the RSF has been locked in a civil war with the Sudanese Armed Forces. The war has devastated much of the country, leaving more than 13,000 people dead and nearly eight million people displaced.
Dreams of democracy are further away than ever before. In response, those resistance committees still operating on the ground have focused on their social role, delivering life-saving support to their communities. Amal’s resistance committee runs a communal kitchen to feed members of the community who are struggling to feed themselves. Political photos and artwork decorate the walls.
“Each resistance committee is different,” Amal says, “but most of them are participating in providing humanitarian assistance and organising mutual aid. In our case we have helped set up an emergency response room.”
Local health workers use the emergency room to deliver medical care, while soup kitchens provide food to more than 6,000 people every day.
For many, it is the only support available. “In some areas, including Khartoum, we are the only provider of aid on the ground – there is nobody else doing it. And if we are to keep supporting our community we will need more aid.
Our funding is extremely limited and it’s difficult for aid from overseas to reach us. As the war goes on, finding food is becoming more and more difficult.”
And the backlash from the generals has not relented. Hundreds of resistance committee members have been killed around the country since the outbreak of the civil war last year – a war which is, in part, a brutal rejection of the committees’ vision of a free and democratic Sudan.
Shortly after our interview, several members of Amal’s own committee were abducted by militia fighters.
Even in the midst of the suffering of war, the resistance committees continue to show how a more democratic and peaceful Sudan is possible. “We try to keep the revolution alive,” says Amal.