The Central Reserve Forces (CRP) (), also known as Abu Tira () due to the eagle on its logo, is a militarised police unit in Sudan known for committing atrocities during the

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equalit ...

and the

Sudanese revolution The Sudanese revolution () was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 S ...

. The CRP is sanctioned by the US for "serious human rights abuses".

History

The idea of having a central reserve forces came in 1970 when the Khartoum Directorate established a civil defence force consisting of one faction, trained in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

, to be reserve forces for the police forces in

Khartoum State Khartoum State () is one of the eighteen states of Sudan. Although it is the smallest state by area (22,142 km2), it is the most populous state in Sudan—5,274,321 in the 2008 census, and officially estimated at 7,993,900 in 2018. It contai ...

and other states, especially in riots and demonstrations, in order for the regular police to devote themselves to performing their role in preventing or detecting crimes. Then the Sudanese Central Reserve Forces were established in 1974 pursuant to Republican Decree No. 475 issued by the President

Gaafar Nimeiry Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (otherwise spelled in English as Gaafar Nimeiry, Jaafar Nimeiry, or Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; ; 1 January 193030 May 2009) was a Sudanese military officer and politician who served as the fourth president of Sudan, hea ...

. They are police forces within 6 basic units of the Sudanese Police, whose command is directly under the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

. The CRP was then led Colonel Ismat Manni. Since 1992, the CRF officially falls under the Ministry of Interior and operates under the mandate of the 1992 Police Force Law. However, in practice, the CRP has operated as an auxiliary force to the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) under former president

Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

, and this arrangement survived NISS's transition to the General Intelligence Service (GIS) in 2019, following al-Bashir's ouster from office. The CRP is the largest police department and has it headquarters is in Kalakla, Khartoum. The CRP has been involved the

, and has responded to peaceful protests with rape, killing and torture. For instance, on 17 January 2022, the CRP and the anti-riot police were deployed to suppress demonstrations across Khartoum, where it used live ammunition. On 21 March 2022, the CRP was sanctioned by the US. During the war in Sudan that started on 15 April 2023 between the

Rapid Support Forces The Rapid Support Forces (RSF; ) is a paramilitary force formerly operated by the government of Sudan. The RSF grew out of, and is primarily composed of, the Janjaweed militias which previously fought on behalf of the Sudanese government. RSF ...

(RSF) and

Sudanese Armed Forces The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF; ) are the military forces of the Republic of the Sudan. The force strength has been estimated at personnel in 2011 (by IISS), 200,000 personnel before the current war in Sudan broke out in 2023 (by the CIA), and ...

(SAF), the CRP announced it would be deploying officers to the streets of Khartoum to "secure public and private property", as one of several paramilitary groups intervening on the side of the SAF. On 25 June, the RSF seized the headquarters of the CRF in Khartoum. During the Battle of Wad Madani, the RSF seized the CRP camp near Hantoub bridge. On 31 October, troops of the

Sudan Revolutionary Front The Sudan Revolutionary Front (), or the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF), was an alliance between Sudanese factions that was created in opposition to the government of President Omar al-Bashir. It was declared on 12 November 2011, following sev ...

(SRF) attacked the CRP camp in Mershing,

South Darfur South Darfur State ( Wilāyat Ǧanūb Dārfūr; Janob Darfor) is one of the States of Sudan, wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the five states that compose the Darfur, region of Darfur in western Sudan. Overview Prior to the creation of t ...

, killing three and injuring four in the attack.

References

{{Reflist Law enforcement in Sudan