Sudan govt cracks down on grassroots service committees in the entire country

The acting Minister of Federal Governance in Port Sudan last week issued a decree banning all grassroots committees in Sudan that have been set up during the revolution or later, during the war, to help out people in need.

The decision concerns all committees set up by civil society activists on grassroots level to help out people in need and the many displaced who fled the violent conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces that broke out in April last year, and include resistance committees, native administration committees, and committees of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC).  

In a decree on January 16, Federal Governance Minister Mohamed Saleh stated that “given the insecurity and the instable political, social, and economical instability in the country, the near absence of understanding between political and party forces, and to guarantee the unity and safety of the country, based on article L27 of the 2020 Law on Decentralised Governance, article 12 of the 2021 decree no 104 of the president of the acting Council of Ministers, and article 15 of the legal interpretation of laws and texts of 1976, the following instruction was issued: dissolution of all services and change committees in the regions and states”.

After the dissolution of the services committees and FFC committees, an inventory is to be made of their assets. Their bank accounts will be frozen.

Alternative “facilitating committees will be established in the cities, towns, villages, neighbourhoods, nomd settlements and markets”. The number of members of these committees should not exceed seven persons who should not politically active.

Th committees are to be authorised by locality directors.

The minister approved similar decisions earlier made by the acting governors of River Nile state, Northern State, El Gedaref, Sennar, the White Nile state, and North Kordofan. They should adjust their procedures to this new decree.

The governors of these states coupled their decisions to dissolve the grassroots committees with accusations of activists cooperating with the RSF.

These accusations have been strongly denied by these committees, saying they focus on “voluntary social work”.

‘Flawed’

El Gedaref was the sixth state that banned grassroots groups. Journalist Omar Emara called the decree issued by Governor Mohamed Saleh on Saturday, “purely political and flawed from a legal point of view”.

The decision can be considered “one of the episodes of conspiracy against the December revolution,” he told Radio Dabanga.

Commenting on the decision of Northern State Governor Khaled Abdelghaffar to ban grassroots committees about a week ago, observers noted that the directives are an indicator of the level of control and dominance supporters of the former Al Bashir regime have over the de facto government in Port Sudan and the state governments in northern and eastern Sudan.

On January 9, Radio Dabanga reported about the banning of resistance and FFC committees in River Nile state.

BBC journalist Mohanad Hashim noted at the time that the decree could be a “major blow” for local emergency rescue committees in the state, along with grassroots activism in general. 

‘Fulfilling state services’

Kholood Khair, Sudanese think tank founder, commented that these committees are “quite literally the only service providers left. The RSF, which has made significant territorial gains in the region, is expanding this rapidly “partly because SAF is busier fighting civilians than fighting the RSF,” she said. 

“State authorities and the SAF have been harassing the resistance committees since their formation. It has continued throughout the war despite the resistance committees consistently fulfilling state services from healthcare (emergency response rooms) to evacuations. This is a farce,” said Sky News Africa correspondent Yousra Elbagir. 

Resistance committees are decentralised and hyper-localised in their ways of operating and are mainly made up of urban youth, crossing many geographical and social boundaries of class and ethnicity. 

They emerged during the 2018 December Revolution and played an incredibly important part in Sudan’s pro-democracy movement ever since. The Revolutionary Charter for Establishing People’s Power, which regulates the work of the resistance committees, was due to be signed in its final form in January 2023. 

Almost abducted

Activist Moataz Tano yesterday filed a complaint to the police of El Gedaref, against a masked armed force consisting of 15 men who tried to abduct him from his home in the city on Saturday evening.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Tano said that he refused to bow to the force, and tried to defend himself. When others intervened, the attackers withdrew.

The activists expressed his fears that “supporters of the former Al Bashir regime are carrying out a campaign to settle scores with activists”.