The rapid advance of Sudanese paramilitaries has intensified calls on civilians to carry arms, raising the specter of civil war. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized most of Sudan’s southern Al-Jazira state including its capital Wad Madani and begun pushing further south into Sennar state. Amid growing claims of abuses by RSF fighters, groups of civilians have called for “armed popular resistance” across several Sudanese states. The RSF has ordered inhabitants of areas under its control to provide volunteers who would be armed to protect their territory.
The conflict since April 15 has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The violence has killed more than 12,000 people and displaced at least 7.1 million. The United Nations has warned of armed civilians, tribal fighters, and rebel groups in Darfur taking up arms.
According to the Small Arms Survey project, 6.6 percent of Sudan’s 48 million people have weapons. The United Nations has warned of armed civilians, tribal fighters, and rebel groups in Darfur taking up arms. A government agency estimated that at the end of 2022, “five million weapons were in the hands of civilians, excluding those of rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile” states. The security official said that it was likely an underestimate. Even before the war, gun permits had become easy to obtain and many weapons were being smuggled into Sudan from neighboring countries.
