Sudan Files: The Unseen - Part 1
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They organised the revolution that removed al-Bashir. When war started in 2023 they did not leave. They became the infrastructure that kept Sudan alive.
The Resistance Committees, known as Lijan al-Muqawama, organised the 2018-2019 Sudanese revolution that removed 30-year dictator Omar al-Bashir. When war broke out on April 15 2023, they transformed into Emergency Response Rooms: informal, youth-led networks delivering lifesaving assistance in areas beyond the reach of international aid agencies. Today there are over 700 Emergency Response Rooms operating across all 18 Sudanese states, mobilising more than 26,000 volunteers. By December 2024 they had assisted over 11.5 million people. They were nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize by the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
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Lijan al-Muqawama · 2018-2019 revolution · April 2023 transformation · Emergency Response Rooms02 / 07
The Resistance Committees organised the revolution. When the war started they became the emergency infrastructure.
The Resistance Committees emerged from pro-democracy protests beginning in 2013 and played a central role in the 2018-2019 revolution that forced al-Bashir from power. After the April 2019 revolution, they maintained their horizontal, participatory approach and became incubators of civic life. When fighting erupted between the SAF and RSF in April 2023, the Resistance Committees were targeted by both factions. Their members who could flee went abroad to continue advocacy. Those who stayed transformed their neighbourhood networks into Emergency Response Rooms.
The Emergency Response Rooms were formed in April 2023 as an urgent response to the collapse of public services. Supply chains fractured overnight. International aid agencies suspended or withdrew operations. The ERRs filled the void. Their initial efforts focused on information sharing and evacuating civilians, including international NGO staff, to safer locations. As the food crisis deepened, their primary mission evolved into delivering humanitarian aid where international organisations could not reach. Arab Center DC, March 2026.
Source: Arab Center DC, Sudan Timeline, March 2026 · Chatham House, Emergency Response Rooms, June 2026 · The Conversation, Sudanese revolution seven years on, March 2026
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700 ERRs · All 18 states · 26,000 volunteers · 11.5 million people reached · Nobel nomination03 / 07
700 Emergency Response Rooms. All 18 Sudanese states. 26,000 volunteers. 11.5 million people reached by December 2024.
From a handful of local initiatives in April 2023, the ERR network grew to over 700 rooms operating across all 18 Sudanese states. This growth was not centrally directed. It was adaptive and rooted in community trust. ERRs provide food through community kitchens, water, emergency medical care and organised evacuations. They operate in Khartoum, Darfur, Blue Nile, Kordofan and East Sudan. By December 2024 the network had assisted over 11.5 million people. 53 percent of internally displaced persons in Sudan are children. Chatham House, June 2026.
The ERRs were nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize by the Peace Research Institute Oslo. They were one of five candidates shortlisted. The other four were international agencies. The ERRs are not registered as an NGO. They are unregistered, community-funded, and accountable to their communities rather than to donors. The international humanitarian system depends on their networks and their data and has been slow to formally credit or fund them. Upstream Journal, 2025.
Source: Chatham House, June 2026 · Peace Research Institute Oslo, Nobel nomination · Upstream Journal, Sudan ERRs · Right Livelihood, ERR documentation
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Medical referrals · Civilian evacuations · Persecution by both armed parties · EUAA June 202504 / 07
ERR volunteers make medical referrals by phone from inside conflict zones. They face arbitrary arrest, torture and killing from both SAF and RSF.
ERR volunteers operate in constant danger. They face bombardment, arbitrary arrest and harassment from both sides of the conflict. The European Union Agency for Asylum documented in its June 2025 Country Guidance on Sudan that members of the Resistance Committees and Emergency Response Rooms face acts of such severe nature that they amount to persecution. Members have been detained, tortured and killed for their commitment to protecting civilians. Right Livelihood, ERR documentation.
The Women's Emergency Response Rooms, documented by African Arguments in August 2025, began operating in Khartoum and its constituent cities in the early days of the war as an urgent response to the wave of violations against women, particularly sexual violence perpetrated by RSF fighters. They quickly established a practical and flexible response system across neighbourhoods where they had previously operated as Resistance Committees. The shift from protest organising to service delivery preserved the participatory essence of the original movement.
Source: EUAA Country Guidance Sudan, June 2025 · African Arguments, Women's ERRs, August 2025 · Right Livelihood, ERR documentation
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IOM data begins here · Displacement tracking · The international record depends on Sudanese civilian documentation05 / 07
The displacement data the IOM publishes starts in notebooks kept by Sudanese civilians inside conflict zones.
The ERRs produce the local data that feeds into the international humanitarian reporting system. Displacement tracking, medical needs mapping, food insecurity reporting and civilian casualty documentation all begin with ERR volunteers on the ground. The IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix, which is cited in every major international report on Sudan, depends on data that originates with Sudanese civilian networks. The international system publishes the reports. The Sudanese civilians keep the records that make them possible.
The Upstream Journal documented that the ERRs challenge the international aid system by implementing a person-centred response reflective of the kinship and mutual care inherent to Sudanese culture. Researcher Khalafallah described how ERRs challenge the system by being accountable to their communities rather than expecting aid recipients to be accountable to donors. International agencies, when they engage with ERRs, often overlook local work and seek to change their fundamental operations, burdening them with reporting conditions and lengthy funding wait times.
Source: Upstream Journal, Sudan ERRs · IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix, Sudan · Chatham House, June 2026
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A parallel civilian state · Built under bombardment · The blueprint for other conflict zones06 / 07
This is not aid. This is a parallel civilian state built by Sudanese people under bombardment.
Chatham House concluded in June 2026 that the ERR model could be a blueprint for other conflict zones, but only if the international aid system is willing to change its ways. The underlying idea is simple: those closest to the crisis are in the best position to respond to it. This is not a new principle. It is a principle the international aid architecture systematically undervalues. The ERRs are proof that it works at scale in the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
The New Internationalist documented in September 2025 that despite living under a dictatorship and a devastating civil war, the Sudanese people have continued to organise. The ERRs are proof that civil society did not collapse when the state did. They are also proof that the international humanitarian system is structurally slow to recognise, fund and protect the local actors doing the most consequential work. The ERRs have kept 11.5 million people partially alive with minimal international recognition and significant personal risk.
Source: Chatham House, June 2026 · New Internationalist, September 2025 · Right Livelihood, ERR documentation
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The question. Not a claim.07 / 07
The Jeddah process. The Geneva talks. SAF and RSF at the table. No seat for the 700 Emergency Response Rooms. No seat for the 26,000 volunteers. No seat for the 15 million displaced. Who decides which voices are at the table when a crisis is negotiated?
Tomorrow: Part 2 of 4. The Famine Architecture. Not the numbers. The mechanism. The warehouse looted. The convoy blocked. The visa denied. The monitoring system suspended by the government that caused the famine. The negotiating table that excluded the people it was supposed to protect.
Some stories are buried on purpose. We dig.
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