SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy - Resistance Committees: The Specters Organizing Sudan’s Protests
TIMEP fellow Muzan Alneel warns that stability in Sudan cannot be achieved without satisfying public demands as reflected by resistance committees (RCs)…that amplify and reflect Sudanese voices”.
By failing to listen to and understand the RCs, Alneel warns that international media and policymakers can “pave the road for a political arrangement with no popular support, making it even more fragile than before”.
Initially formed in every neighbourhood to facilitate decentralised protests, Alneel summarised the RCs’ rise to prominence. As the civilian component of the power-sharing government “deprioritised popular demands,” the RCs “evolved into the voice of the ignored masses” by protesting the lack of justice for massacre victims and unpopular economic policies, before subsequently leading anti-coup protests.
Alneel adds that the RC stance against closed-door politics and compromising with the military are “clear indicators of how the Sudanese public under RC leadership will react [to] attempts [to] force another compromise”.