{"id":20067017,"date":"2024-01-12T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20067017"},"modified":"2024-01-12T16:52:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T15:52:38","slug":"sudanese-in-el-gedaref-are-arming-themselves-despite-hate-of-islamists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/sudanese-in-el-gedaref-are-arming-themselves-despite-hate-of-islamists","title":{"rendered":"Sudanese in El Gedaref are arming themselves \u2018despite hate of Islamists\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

People in El Gedaref in eastern Sudan are still bracing for a possible attack of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Calls for popular resistance are finding wide response,\u201d civil society activist Jaafar Khidir reported yesterday. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the RSF invasion<\/a> of neighbouring El Gezira, after only four days of resistance by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), in December, triggered fears among the residents of El Gedaref about a possible breakthrough of the paramilitaries to the East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCalls for popular resistance and the arming of civilians have now also penetrated the countryside and found a wide response, also among those who never belonged to the former Al Bashir regime,\u201d civil society activist Jaafar Khidir told Radio Dabanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Sudanese army entrusted the process of arming civilians in El Gedaref to former members of the Popular Defence Forces (PDF*), popularly known as the kezan<\/em>** militia,\u201d he explicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are headed by hardliners of the Islamist movement, former El Gedaref Governor El Daw El Mahi and Mohamed El Sunni, who served as a minister in the Al Bashir regime, in addition to a number of other well-known names<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis caused quite some people to reject the calls for civilian armament, as that they categorically opposed the Al Bashir\u2019s [dissolved<\/a>] National Congress Party, like the rest of the Sudanese,\u201d Khidir continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the threat of the RSF taking over El Gedaref as happened in El Gezira after the army withdrew, remains, so people want to be able to defend themselves to protect their villages,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, despite the hate of the Islamist elements, popular armament is proceeding at an increasing pace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activist explained that the residents of El Gedaref \u201ccan roughly be divided into three groups according to their positions: \u201cthose who prefer to stay to face their fate without arming themselves, others who joined or will join the popular resistance, while the third group decided to seek refuge in other places in eastern Sudan. Large numbers already left the state immediately after the RSF took control of El Gezira.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khidir, who is physically impaired, has been detained several times<\/a> during the reign of dictator Omar Al Bashir (1989-2019). In July last year, he was held<\/a> for 24 hours in connection with three complaints under the cybercrime law, following posts on social media in which he expressed surprise that prominent members of the Al Bashir regime, like Ahmed Haroun<\/a>, were allowed to organise activities in El Gedaref, while those who publicly rejected the war were persecuted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Plenty of firearms<\/strong>‘<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first day of this year, Beja leader El Amin Shangerai warned about \u201cthe extremely fragile security situation<\/a>\u201d in eastern Sudan (El Gedaref, Kassala, and Red Sea state).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are security threats that may cause the situation to burst, one of them being the presence of a large number of leaders of the Al Bashir regime in the region, who are mobilising the eastern Sudanese to fight alongside the army,\u201d he told Radio Dabanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shangerai further said that he is also \u201cextremely worried about the emergence of separatist tendencies among the people of eastern Sudan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small Arms Survey researcher Khristopher Carlson reported in May last year that Sudan is awash with firearms<\/a>. \u201cThe country\u00a0ranks second\u00a0among its regional neighbours in total firearms estimates, with combined holdings\u00a0among civilians\u00a0and security forces topping out at over three million.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July last year, Radio Dabanga reported that the SAF was progressing with its mobilisation efforts by establishing Pride and Dignity military training camps<\/a> in eastern and northern Sudan in which volunteers received basic military training.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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* The paramilitary Popular Defence Forces (PDF) was established after Omar Al Bashir\u2019 took power in a military coup in June 1989. Its members received training, uniforms, weapons, and food, but no salaries. The PDF not only operated as a reserve force for the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) but also played a major role in the distribution of weapons to, and military training for, tribal militias. After the ousting of President Al Bashir in April 2019, the PDF remained operational, in particular in South Kordofan, until early June 2020, when the militia was officially dissolved<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

** The word <\/em>kezan, or <\/em>kizan, is a pejorative nickname used by many Sudanese for Islamist loyalists to the regime of Omar Al Bashir (1989-2019) and who enjoyed far-fetching privileges during his rule. <\/em>Kezan is the plural of <\/em>koz which means \u2018wooden or iron mug\u2019. The nickname is based on a description the Islamic Brotherhood called themselves when the founder of the group, the Egyptian Hasan El Banna, said: \u201cReligion is a sea, and we are the mugs that draw from it\u201d.  <\/em><\/p>\n