A section of Sudanese activists has rejected calls by the Sudanese army leaders to arm civilians in their battle against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Military leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, addressing soldiers at the Jabait military base in eastern Sudan last week, said, “We will arm the popular resistance with any weapon we have, and we will not prevent the Sudanese resistance from bringing any weapons.”

The move has sparked controversy and concern over involving civilians into war.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, the head of the Darfur Justice Forum, Abu Ubaida Awad, denounced any attempts to arm citizens by the Sudanese army in the areas its controls.

Awad said arming citizens will lead to an open conflicts and wars in the future. “The army should protect citizens instead of arming them to protect themselves,” he said.

He further said arming civilians is normally accompanied by hate and racist speeches, at a time when the people of Darfur and Kordofan are subject to arbitrary arrests in areas under army control on a tribal and regional basis.

Awad called on the warring parties to immediately return to the negotiating table to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people.

Ahmed Issa Abo, a Sudanese rights activist, also rejected the calls terming them “illegal.”

Arming citizens violates Article 26 of the Weapons, Ammunition and Explosives Law of 1986 and its subsequent amendments, he added.

Issa explained that the law is clear and specifies the parties that carry weapons, which are the military forces and licensed holders, that is, citizens who obtained weapons through a license.

“Weapons are a deadly tool and one of the mechanisms that help in tribal wars in the country,” Abo said.

He said continued arming of civilians violates the law in its legal context. Abo said, arming on a regional or tribal basis is even worse in a diverse country like Sudan.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF since April 15, 2023. More than 12,000 people had been killed in the fighting, according to a statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in December last year.