Rhino: Follow-up – Leaks from an evaluation workshop organized by the Islamic Movement in Khartoum regarding the Popular Resistance Regulations have revealed official figures on the extent of its participation and its human casualties in the ongoing war. The online newspaper “Eye of Truth” reported that it had obtained the minutes of the workshop, which discussed the 19-article Popular Resistance Regulations, issued pursuant to Article 36 of the Reserve Forces Act of 2013 (as amended in 2019), under Commander-in-Chief’s Decision No. 19.
According to the workshop’s findings, the organization’s death toll reached 2,434, including top-tier commanders, and mobile units were subsequently formed in their names, such as Fawzi al-Mutasallim (Elite 1 and Elite 2), Muhammad Younis, Muhammad Ali, al-Nu’man, Bahar, al-Tayyib, Khalid, and others. The speakers confirmed that their families were visited “house by house.” The workshop also revealed that hundreds were killed in the Al-Sayyad mobile unit alone.
The workshop defined the principles of the resistance as “religion, honor, wealth, and the homeland.” Article (1) defined a volunteer as “a Sudanese citizen who came of his own free will,” subject to four conditions: that he be a Sudanese national, at least 18 years of age, medically fit, of good character and conduct, and not convicted of a crime involving a breach of honor. The participants dwelled at length on the age requirement, noting that there have been fatalities among those under the age of eighteen.
The workshop revealed a plan to open training camps and train one million volunteers across Sudan’s various states; however, the actual number of fighters currently participating in mobile units and operations does not exceed 100,000, which reveals – the limited popular response to what was termed the “mobilization” and “popular resistance” coined by the Islamists to support the war.
The workshop also noted that forces from the Islamic Movement participated alongside the Armed Forces and the Operations Command in 47 combat operations in the areas of Al-Muhandisin, Al-Mudaraat, Al-Dakhira, Al-Jazira, Sennar, Al-Sayyad, and others.
