On June 9, 2023, smoke rises in Khartoum, Sudan as clashes continue between the Sudanese National Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. (Photo courtesy of Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
WWe'll call her Amal. It's not her real name, but using her real name could get her kidnapped or killed.
She lives in the east of Khartoum and is a member of her neighborhood resistance committee. Her 80 members on this committee include students, blue-collar and white-collar workers, artists, journalists, trade unionists and political party members. Many are women.
There are hundreds of such committees in Khartoum and thousands across the country. In the absence of a functioning government, governments often provide the only facade of governance: informal, democratic institutions that respond to community needs while promoting national reform.
The effect was amazing.
These largely youth-led groups spearheaded the peaceful revolution that ended the 30-year tyranny of brutal dictator Omar al-Bashir.
As the uprising spread, thousands of resistance committees were formed across the country. Amals was formed in December 2018.
“We came together organically, organizing night marches and stand-up protests in our neighborhoods, and also participated in major protests in the city centre,” she says.
The committee worked together to coordinate daily demonstrations that attracted hundreds of thousands of participants. They planned and promoted routes, raised funds to treat those injured by security forces, supported the families of many victims, and created spaces for discussion and debate in their neighborhoods.
By April of the following year, Bashir was out. But the resistance committee was not finished. It continued to organize large-scale sit-ins, especially in Khartoum, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered daily to demand civilian rule in place of the military regime that removed Bashir.
Traffic was prohibited at the vast sit-in site outside military headquarters, and barricades were erected to prevent security forces from entering. Artists, musicians, singers, and dancers came together to promote the revolution. Although many of the protesters remained in the dark, banners were put up to show the full extent of Bashir's brutality. Street children were given free food.
A fierce backlash ensued.
In June 2019, the sit-in was broken up by the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful militia that is part of the military regime. Hundreds of protesters were killed and dozens raped. This was a wake-up call to the committee.
“After the Khartoum sit-in, members became more aware of political dynamics,” Amal says.
Nevertheless, they continued to press for a civilian-led government, and their calls attracted international attention, forcing the generals to establish a joint military-civilian transitional government.
This didn't last long. In 2021, generals expelled civilians in a coup. And he was in 2023, and they turned on each other. Since then, the Rapid Support Force has been locked in a civil war with the Sudanese military. The war destroyed much of the country, leaving more than 13,000 people dead and nearly 8 million people displaced.
The dream of democracy is further away than ever. In response, the Resistance Committees, which are still active in the field, are focused on their social role of providing life-saving support to local communities.
The Amal Resistance Committee runs a communal kitchen to provide meals to those struggling to access food. The walls are decorated with political photos and artwork.
“Each resistance committee is different,” says Amal. “However, most resistance committees participate in providing humanitarian aid and organizing mutual aid. In our case, we helped set up an emergency room.”
Local health care workers provide medical care through emergency rooms, and soup kitchens feed approximately 6,000 people each day. For many people, it is the only support available.
“In some areas, including Khartoum, we are the only ones providing aid on the ground and no one else is providing aid. And we need to continue to support our communities. , more aid will be needed. Our funds are very limited and it is difficult for foreign aid to reach us. As the war drags on, it becomes increasingly difficult to find food. It has become.”
And the opposition from the generals did not subside. Hundreds of resistance committee members have been killed across the country since the civil war broke out last year. This war is, in part, a brutal rejection of the Commission's vision of a free and democratic Sudan.
Shortly after our interview, several members of Amal's committee were abducted by militias.
Even in the midst of the suffering of war, the Resistance Committee continues to demonstrate how a more democratic and peaceful Sudan is possible. “We are trying to keep the revolution alive,” Amal says.
Mark Weston is the author of The Savior Fish: Life and Death on Africa's Greatest Lake. He lived in Khartoum during the first two years of the revolution. This article first appeared in The Continent, a pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the Mail and Guardian. Designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp.Download your free copy here.
