A sea of supporters poured into Nyala’s central squares on Sunday in what organizers called the “Million-Person March,” voicing full-throated support for the recently formed Government of Unity and Peace. Led by Civil Administration chief Yusuf Idris Yusuf, the rally drew several thousand men, women and youth waving banners that proclaimed Darfur’s readiness to “lead, not follow.”
A symbolic break with Khartoum
Speakers framed the demonstration as a watershed moment: legitimacy, they argued, now flows from popular will in Sudan’s regions rather than elite circles in the capital.
“Nyala isn’t asking for a share of power anymore; it is exercising power,” one organizer told the crowd, invoking memories of the 1950s, when Darfuri MP Abdel-Rahman Dabaka first pushed for Sudanese independence.
From margin to driving seat
Analysts say the show of force highlights a broader trend since the civil war began in 2023: political energy is migrating from Khartoum to Sudan’s periphery. Protesters echoed slogans from the 2019 December Revolution, insisting the uprising’s demand for civilian rule remains alive despite two years of conflict.
Local leaders vowed to channel the rally’s momentum into rebuilding war-ravaged services and pressing national factions to recognize the “Government of Peace” as a legitimate negotiating partner.
Whether Khartoum’s SAF junta will accept that claim remains uncertain, but Sunday’s turnout confirms that Darfur’s political voice—long dismissed as peripheral—is now impossible to ignore.
