Armed Groups

In one form or another, armed groups have been a feature of the Sudanese landscape since before the nation's independence in 1956. Since the 1990s, however, armed groups—particularly opposition groups but also pro-government militias—have played a central role in the historical development of Sudan. Today, they remain a nexus of armed violence against the state and local communities.

Arms Holdings

Estimating the numbers of weapons held by Sudanese state forces, armed groups, and civilians is extremely challenging. The proliferation of arms throughout Sudanese society is a primary legacy of almost four decades of civil war as part of which all sides received arms from outside parties and redistribution to allied forces and civilians was a widely used tactic. The capture and recapture of arms through theft and military engagements has fed the diffusion of weapons, as has the small-scale private 'ant trade' across Sudan's largely unmonitored borders.