Darfur governor Mini Minawi called Sunday on citizens to "take up arms" to defend themselves and their properties amid the ongoing war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“I call on all our honorable citizens, the people of Darfur, old and young, men and women, to take up arms to protect their property,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday.
“There are many who do not wish for the safety or rights of citizens and deliberately sabotage national institutions,” he added.
Minawi stressed, “we, the struggle movements will support them in all defense cases.”
The head of the Sudanese Liberation Movement, Minni Minnawi, was appointed in May 2021 as the governor of Darfur. He was among the signatories of the Darfur Peace Agreement in 2020 with the transitional government after ousting the regime of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
The conflict that erupted on April 15 between the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has killed hundreds and internally displaced more than one million individuals, while more than 300,000 have fled to neighboring countries.
The fighting across Sudan has killed around 1,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Most casualties were recorded in the capital and in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.
Sudan is witnessing the sixth day of a one-week ceasefire that was agreed on via mediation by the US and Saudi Arabia. However, both sides exchanged accusations of violating the ceasefire.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, Washington and Riyadh called on the warring parties to keep up talks to extend the ceasefire as this would “facilitate the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the Sudanese people.”
