Sudan Army Commander Kabbashi: popular resistance groups need control

According to Lt Gen Shamseldin Kabbashi, second deputy commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the popular resistance groups fighting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) need to be better controlled. He told military graduates in eastern Sudan on Wednesday that the Sudanese authorities “will not start any political process before resolving the war”.

During his address at the graduation ceremony of the new combatants of the Sudan Liberation Movement faction under the leadership of Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) in El Gedaref on Wednesday, Kabbashi announced that “we have begun enacting a law and structures to control the many popular resistance groups” in Sudan.

 “The popular resistance groups will become the next danger if we continue in this way,” he stated.

Armed groups formed in various areas controlled by the army have been training large numbers of civilians to fight the RSF. Observers have accused members of the defunct regime of Omar Al Bashir of being behind the formation of these forces.

Kabbashi, also a member of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council since August 2019, told the commanders of the military regions not to distribute any weapons to “anyone who is not under the control of the army” and urged the seizure of arms “from anyone who does not wish to work under the army”.

The army leader declared his categorical rejection of “any political exploitation” of the popular resistance camps. Anyone carrying a party logo, slogan, or political banner should be prevented from entering the camps. “Popular resistance is not a political bazaar or market.”

Several groups are battling alongside the army especially Khartoum, including the Angry Without Borders group, set up by activists of the December 2018 Revolution, the El Baraa Ibn Malik Brigade affiliated with the Islamic Movement, in addition to a heavy presence of other elements of the Al Bashir regime.

Humanitarian aid

Kabbashi acknowledged the humanitarian crisis as a result of the ongoing war and accused the RSF of preventing the passage of aid.

According to the general, the international community “did not send a single aid aircraft” despite the de facto Sudanese government’s recent decision to open border crossings and airports for the transport of relief items, “despite security reservations”.

He said that that “the government does not have any restrictions or ceilings for humanitarian work” and called on the RSF, the mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement in Darfur, led by Abdelwahid Nur (SLM-AW), and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu in South Kordofan and Blue Nile region to allow the passage of relief items to the needy. , But the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan Liberation Movement accuse the army of preventing aid from reaching areas under their control.

The SLM-AW, having its base at the mountain tops of the Jebel Marra massive in central Darfur, reported on Tuesday that an estimated 26,636 children in the area are suffering from malnutrition and urged the UN to declare a famine in Darfur.  

‘Political process’

Regarding the political file, Kabbashi repeated the words of SAF Commander-in-Chief Abdelfattah El Burhan and SAF Deputy Commander Yasir El Atta earlier this year by saying that his government in Port Sudan “will not start any political process before closing the military file and resolving the war”.

He declared his refusal to agree on any truce “like the previous ones, which the RSF exploited to rearm themselves”.

The army commander welcomed all national or external efforts to stop the war but conditioned the SAF’s participation in negotiations on the withdrawal of the RSF from urban areas, including Darfur.

“There will be no military presence for the RSF in the future,” he stressed. “Arrangements can be made for those RSF members who joined the ranks of the army or remained in their homes and did not participate in the war.”

He further stressed the need to determine mechanisms for accountability and compensation for people’s stolen property.

The army will not be part of the coming government, Kabbashi said. It will, however, participate in the political dialogue “to discuss important military and security issues”. He called on “all political forces and blocs to agree on a document to govern the country”.

The SAF “will soon be victorious in all regions. We seek to resolve the war in the shortest possible time,” he said, describing the fighting as “a means to achieve peace”.

On Sunday, the third deputy commander-in-chief of the SAF, member of the Sovereignty Council, acting prime minister, and director of Sudatel, Lt Gen Ibrahim Jaber, said that the army “will not be a party to any political agreement” in the future.

Speaking to members of the 2nd Infantry Division in El Gedaref, Jaber stated that the upcoming transitional period “will be run by a technocratic government that will organise the affairs of the Sudanese and hold free and fair elections in which the people can choose who will rule them”.

He said that the army categorically refuses to share power with political parties that have aligned themselves with the RSF.

Sudan observer and researcher Eric Reeves said on X in response to the SAF preferring a government of technocrats that this means “a ‘government’ with no power and wholly controlled by the army”.