Following the outbreak of fighting in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, on April 15, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces/Janjaweed militia. The Civilian Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy was launched on April 27 in Sudan, bringing together more than 80 civil society and political groups and 130 individual signatories.
The following is its founding statement:
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The Civilian Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy
Founding Statement — 27 April, 2023
Unofficial translation by Amal Hamdan
We, the factions and sides that have signed which includes: Resistance Committees ; Civil society organizations; Political parties; Armed groups ; Student and professional bodies; The preparatory committees and professional unions; Public figures, academics, cultural and media (personalities), religious figures
Are working towards peace and to reassure the people of Sudan and to ensure the country’s unity, sovereignty and stability.
We recognize that the hidden and ultimate goal of the ongoing war is the militarization of life in our country and to eliminate the roots and seeds of civilian, democratic rule for which the December Revolution strived (to achieve) and to flatten the domination of the National Congress Party.
Based on our new reality, as a result of the war which erupted on 15 April and its consequences, we have decided to announce our efforts, through the Civilian Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy, to achieve the following goals:
First: To work to immediately stop the war, to silence the guns, and to work to provide urgent humanitarian, medical, public services and environmental needs to citizens in affected areas;
Second: To work to return to the a comprehensive civilian transition to democracy;
Third: The military institutions’ complete departure from political and economic life;
Fourth: To reforming the security and military, which includes (creating) a unified, professional army, through peaceful steps and under the umbrella of a national civilian transitional democratic process;
Fifth: To block the plans of the former regime to return to power and its current attempts to militarize life against civilians under the banner of war and the attempts of Islamist coups;
Sixth: To confront (and challenge) the rhetoric of bias and affiliations based on ethnic, tribal, regional and religious grounds, and to resist propaganda, terrorist campaigns and hate speech, and to bolster the values of (equal) citizenship and peaceful coexistence;
Seventh: To completely reject external intervention into national issues, with the exception of international efforts to halt the war and to provide humanitarian aide and to find a comprehensive, just peace;
Eighth: To achieve the aforementioned goals, we, the Civilian Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy, will employ all our capabilities and expertise available, through peaceful, tested means based on our extended experiences struggling against all forms of tyranny and totalitarianism;
Ninth: We announce our agreement to jointly cooperate with representatives of the signatories (in this Front) and to develop effective coordination mechanisms to take rapid decisions and to implement across Sudan, beginning in areas of humanitarian aide and the media, and to address the public and international (communities), and to work to broaden participation to include national figures and forces, with the exception of Islamist groups and the disbanded National Congress Party and their allies, in order to unify the forces of the Revolution.
In conclusion, we confirm that we stand together in the Civilian Front to Stop the War and Restore Democracy, and that we are open to the participation (with us) of: all civilian forces who oppose efforts to overturn the December Revolution, opponents of the war, opponents of militarization of civilian life, supporters of restoring a civilian transition and establishing a civilian democratic rule and to achieve the slogans of the glorious December revolution through freedom, peace, justice in a civilian democratic state.
Our people will ultimately triumph over tyrants.
[Slightly edited for clarity. For the full list of signatories, visit: eyesonsudan.net.]