Sudan pro-democracy leader warns army against restoring Islamist rule
October 3, 2026 (LONDON) – Prominent Sudanese pro-democracy leader Yasir Arman warned the Sudanese Armed Forces on Wednesday not to use recent battlefield gains to reinstall the former Islamist regime, arguing that a military victory cannot resolve the structural drivers of the devastating conflict.
Speaking at a Chatham House roundtable in London, Arman delivered a stark assessment of the war that erupted on April 15, 2023, describing it as the outcome of a failed nation-building model and deliberate agitation by Islamist elements who supported the October 2021 military coup to derail democratic transition.
Arman emphasised the danger of military leadership enabling an Islamist resurgence, cautioning that tactical advances cannot substitute for political transformation.
“It would pose a threat and represent a profound failure for the SAF to treat its battlefield gains as a tactical opportunity to restore Islamist rule and resume state capture,” Arman stated.
He warned that such a move would plunge the nation into an endless cycle of violence and regional destabilization.
“The Islamists would only perpetuate the wars and marginalisation of the past against the majority of the Sudanese people, deepen the politicisation of the state – particularly the security sector – and continue to use violence against the population,” he said.
Arman insisted that lasting peace remains fundamentally incompatible with the resurgence of the former ruling faction.
“Therefore, a genuine end to this war and a path to sustainable peace are in direct contradiction with the return of the Islamists, given their infamous résumé,” Arman said, adding that “Sudan needs a paradigm shift, which cannot be achieved under dictatorship.”
Addressing the broader context, Arman stressed that neither the military nor the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces hold legitimate authority from the public, as both forces committed serious violations against civilians and dismantled the democratic path opened by the December 2018 revolution.
He highlighted the dire humanitarian catastrophe impacting more than 25 million people across the country, with imminent famine threatening regions including the Al Gezira Scheme, Kordofan, and Darfur amid hyperinflation and war-driven corruption networks.
Arman called on the United Nations Security Council to adopt an African Peace and Security Council proposal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, monitored by an international peace mission, and to endorse the Quartet roadmap.
He also urged immediate, direct dialogue between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the anti-war movement on neutral ground, later expanding to include the RSF, alongside dismantling all militias and establishing a single national army accountable to civilian rule.