Sudan Revolutionary Front

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The Sudan Revolutionary Front was an alliance of armed groups opposed to the National Congress Party government of Omar al-Bashir. It operated mainly in the southern and western areas of the country. Like its political ally the National Democratic Alliance, the SRF accused the Bashir government of mass killings and systematic repression. It was also very critical of the introduction of strict Sharia law across the country, begun under Bashir's predecessor Hassan al-Turabi, and the alleged dominance of riverine Arabs at the expense of non-Arabs and Arabs from more rural parts of the country.

Four rebel groups came together in DATE TBD to form the SRF:

  • The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) - the first Darfuri rebel group. Originally known as the Darfur Liberation Front, it consisted primarily of the Fur, Zhagawa, and Masalit peoples. It called for a secular state.
  • The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - founded shortly after the SLM/A by disaffected ex-National Congress supporters. Although at times considered the most powerful rebel group in Darfur, its support was generally limited to the Zhagawa. Unlike the other SRF members, the JEM characterized Sudan as an Islamic nation, but it also called for full freedom of religion.
  • The Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) - formed as an amalgamation of minor Darfuri factions, including some minor splits from the SLM and JEM. It included many Arabs who opposed the government's tactic of using Arab militias to kill and displace black Sudanese. As a diverse coalition, it took no stance on the issue of religion and the state.
  • The Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) - the dominant group in the south. It was secular and initially supported a federal system of government across Sudan. The peoples of southern Sudan had different historical roots from their northern neighbors and had long felt marginalized by the northern government in Khartoum. The British had allowed the south a certain degree of autonomy, but upon independence, the Muslim Arab-dominated government took measures that alienated the largely Christian and animist south. Civil war broke out in DATE TBD and after several years of fighting, most of the southern rebels united under charismatic rebel leader John Garang to form the SPLM. Although it included a multitude of ethnic groups, the SPLM's leadership (and often the bulk of the fighting force) was dominated by Garang's own Dinka people, which led to internal divisions and conflicts with non-Dinka, including rival factions sponsored by Khartoum. Garang managed to negotiate peace with most of these factions and had largely united the south behind his movement before his death in a helicopter accident in DATE TBD.

The war between the Bashir government and the SRF remained largely a stalemate until DATE TBD, when popular protests in Khartoum convinced the military to oust Bashir and negotiate an end to the conflict, as well as a transition to democracy. By then, Garang was dead and the SPLM under his successor, Salva Kiir, was demanding independence for the south, which was granted three years later. But the tension between the Dinka at the helm of the SPLM and non-Dinka southerners was never fully resolved, and the new country collapsed into a civil war of its own in DATE TBD. Meanwhile, the Darfuri groups and the northern sector of the SPLM formally joined the National Democratic Alliance and took part in the Sudanese transition government.