Sudan's army calls for young people, others, to enlist in fight against rival paramilitary

2023-07-03 20:30

Sudan's army has called on young people and anyone else capable of fighting to enlist in its battle against the country's rival paramilitary force, known as the Rapid Support Forces

CAIRO (AP) — The Sudanese army called Monday on young people and anyone else capable of fighting to enlist at the nearest military command for battle against rival paramilitary force.

Sudan descended into chaos after fighting erupted on Apr. 15 between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Since then, over 3,000 people have been killed, the country’s Health Ministry said, while about 2.5 million people have been displaced, according to the U.N. The true death toll is believed to be much higher.

“The commanders of the military divisions and regions have been instructed to receive and equip the fighters, and they must go to the nearest military command or unit,” the army said Monday morning on their official Facebook page.

Monday's call to arms comes just days after Burhan made a near-identical appeal during a televised speech, asking Sudan’s youth and those capable of fighting to support the army, either from “their place of residence or by joining the military movement.”

It remained unclear if Monday's call to arms was a forced conscription.

In the capital, Khartoum, RSF troops appear to have the upper hand on the city’s streets, having commandeered civilian homes across the capital and turned them into bases. Throughout the 10-week conflict, the army has retaliated with airstrikes that have hit residential areas and sometimes hospitals.

The province of West Darfur has seen some of the worst violence. In a report issued two weeks ago by the Dar Masalit sultanate, the leader of the African Masalit ethnic community, he accused the RSF and Arab militias of “committing genocide against African civilians.” He estimated that over the past two months, more than 5,000 people were killed in the province’s capital, Genena.

Several rounds of peace talks hosted by Riyadh and Washington in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah have all but broken down, with both mediators publicly accusing the RSF and the army of continually violating truces brokered by the two nations.

At least nine cease-fires have been agreed upon since the conflict broke out. None have lasted.