Democracy activists face crackdown by Sudan’s army

Dozens of Sudanese activists have been arrested and tortured in secret detention centres – commonly referred to as “ghost houses” – by military intelligence in recent weeks, Al Jazeera reported yesterday.

Many of those being detained are members of the resistance committees, which played an instrumental role in organising mass protests to bring down Sudan’s autocratic former President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

“What is happening is the political revenge by cadres of the former regime who are in the security forces,” said one resistance committee member in Port Sudan, the army’s stronghold and Sudan’s de facto administrative capital since the war.

The army frequently accuses resistance committee members of being RSF sleeper cells, but activists believe this is a pretext to punish them for their role in bringing down al-Bashir.

Meanwhile, Sudanese activists accuse the army of devoting more efforts to crack down on them than to fight the RSF. Many pointed to the army’s rapid withdrawal from Wad Madani in mid-December, which allowed the paramilitary to capture the city.

Since the war erupted in April 2023, resistance committees have mobilised to evacuate civilians from neighbourhoods caught in the crossfire, power hospitals and distribute food and medicine to those in need. But activists are now pausing their initiatives for fear of arrest.

However, these resistance committees have been cracked down for calling for an end to the war, for the RSF to dissolve and for the army to surrender to a civilian government.