Leave the Runaways, Tackle Those Standing — Focus on the Urgent

▪️The idea of creating an auxiliary force was not a Sudanese innovation; many armies worldwide maintain reserves and auxiliary units for use when needed. Initially, the concept envisioned the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a limited force of a few thousand soldiers with no camps inside the capital. Had al-Bashir moved to dissolve and integrate these forces into the army—as Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan indicated in his meeting with journalists—we would have avoided this catastrophe. They would have been distributed among various army units after meeting the necessary conditions and regulations. However, what happened after his departure was the exact opposite: the force was allowed to grow without limits, expand its armaments, influence, and resources, and build independent foreign relations, until it transformed into a parallel entity whose leader stood alongside the army commander in signing political charters, with its influence extending into the sovereign, executive, and economic sectors of the state. ▪️I believe the authorities at the time bear responsibility for this expansion and its catastrophic aftermath, as a force meant to be auxiliary turned into a parallel army threatening state security and stability. When the war erupted, the heavy cost became clear: unprecedented infrastructure destruction, the fall of military headquarters, the displacement of millions, and most bitterly, its leaders throwing themselves into the arms of foreign powers lurking in wait for Sudan. ▪️Shifting blame onto the past will not change the reality. What is required today is not to re-enact trials of the past, but to draw lessons and act upon them. As the Sudanese proverb says: 'Leave the runaways, tackle those standing.' ▪️The security dimension cannot be delayed. A stable state cannot be built while there is more than one gun. Security arrangements must be completed by integrating all auxiliary forces into the armed forces, under a single doctrine, a single training program, a single command, and complete subordination to the elected civilian state authority. The Sudanese people have paid a staggering price in blood, ruin, and displacement, and today they need real rescue, not promises. What is required is to end the militia and its illusions of any future political or military role, and to uphold the choice of a single army. Either the state settles the issue of monopoly over weapons today, or chaos will reproduce itself tomorrow.