KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL 

The Sudanese High Committee for Mobilization and Popular Resistance said Thursday that it will continue training, reopen camps and push volunteers to the front lines to confront the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese News Agency reported.

It came from the committee’s head, a government official, Bashir Makki al-Bahi.

After the RSF seized El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on Oct. 26, Prime Minister Kamil Idris declared a general state of mobilization on Oct. 30 across the 13 states under army control out of 18 Sudanese states.

Al-Bahi affirmed “the continuation of training, the reopening of camps, and the deployment of mobilized volunteers to the front lines to repel the aggression and defend land and honour.”

He said there is “no need or intention to launch compulsory conscription campaigns, given the large voluntary rush of youth to the camps to support the armed forces in the battle to liberate the homeland from the RSF rebellion.”

Al-Bahi added that “popular resistance has become a national necessity to confront the external aggression facing Sudan, which targets its unity and sovereignty,” without giving details.

He explained that “mobilization and popular resistance constitute a unifying national entity to defend beliefs, territory, and protect the country’s sovereignty.”

He said the mobilization began spontaneously in response to rebel militia practices and later developed after the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, declared a state of mobilization, at which point the popular resistance was organized and structured at the federal, state and local levels.

Al-Bahi said the mobilization has two components: one for those able to bear arms to support the armed forces across all axes until every inch of the country is liberated, and a second for civilian support in reconstruction, rebuilding and service provision in liberated areas.

He added that the plan aims to prepare mobilized volunteers to liberate a number of areas and to secure the Northern State, instructing committees in various states to announce general mobilization and open camps to support the armed forces.

Mobilization and popular resistance committees are among the mechanisms local authorities have relied on during the war to recruit fighters and mobilize human resources across states.

After fighting broke out between the army and the RSF in April 2023, the army leadership encouraged citizens to take up arms. Following the RSF capture of Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazirah state, in December 2023, popular resistance groups emerged to support the army.

On May 22, 2024, al-Burhan said the army would review the roles and armament of mobilized volunteers fighting alongside the army against the RSF, announcing the equipping of a fully armed force.

On May 27, 2024, the Transitional Sovereignty Council issued regulations for mobilization and popular resistance, defining committee mandates and structures at the federal and state levels and volunteer recruitment conditions.

Since April 15, 2023, the army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. T

The conflict has killed thousands and displaced millions.