Sudan's army said on Monday it was ready to “receive and prepare” volunteers answering a call last week by its commander, Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, for young men to join the war against its enemy, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“The commanders of military units and regions have been instructed to receive and equip the fighters, and they must go to the nearest military command or unit,” the army said on its official Facebook page.
The announcement came days after Gen Al Burhan called in a televised address on young men and anyone who is capable of fighting to support the army by either enlisting or defending their place of residence.
The call to arms suggests that Gen Al Burhan intends to fight on in the hope of gaining the upper hand in the 12-week-old war against the RSF. It is also an indication that the army could be short-handed or wants to gauge its support among a populace enduring a major humanitarian crisis because of the conflict.
The army's Facebook page on Monday posted video clips of scores of young men in civilian clothes walking into a military base while chanting “One army, one people”, an old Sudanese slogan traditionally used to underline the bond between the army and civilians.
The footage's authenticity could not be independently verified.
The army-RSF war has plunged Sudan, an impoverished and vast Afro-Arab nation of more than 40 million, into one of the world's worst single humanitarian crisis with the UN saying about 25 million Sudanese – more than half the population – are in need of assistance.
At least 3,000 people have been killed in the war and twice as many have been injured, according to the Health Ministry, but the actual numbers are thought to be much higher. About 2.5 million people have also been displaced, according to the UN. Of those, 645,000 fled to neighbouring countries.
On Monday, explosions again rocked the nation's capital. The sound of artillery fire shook north-west Khartoum at dawn and progressed towards the centre and east of the city, according to witnesses.
Some of the worst fighting in the Sudanese war has taken place in the vast western region of Darfur, where late on Sunday RSF forces “attacked a military base” in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.
Darfur is home to a quarter of Sudan's population and is still scarred by a two-decade war. Residents there as well as the United Nations, US and others, say civilians have been targeted and killed for their ethnicity by the RSF and allied Arab militias.
The RSF has been accused of intentionally targeting ethnic Africans in Darfur, including by shooting people fleeing towards the Chadian border. Late on Sunday, the RSF announced it was cracking down on “looting and vandalism, particularly the theft of civilian cars”.
The RSF's forerunner is the notorious Janjaweed militia, which fought on the government's side in Darfur to crush a rebellion there in the 2000s. The militia is accused of committing large-scale abuses against civilians during the war. Former dictator Omar Al Basahir and a one-time Janjaweed commander were indicted more than a decade ago by the International Criminal Court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
