2018–2022
January 2018: Protests erupted across Sudan over rising prices caused by government austerity measures.
December 19, 2018: Anti-government demonstrations broke out across Sudan over soaring prices and shortages and evolved into demands for the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir. Security forces launched a violent crackdown, killing dozens.
February 2019: Al-Bashir declared a state of emergency.
April 6, 2019: A large sit-in protest began outside the military’s headquarters in Khartoum. Over five days, security forces killed at least 22 people while attempting to disperse the protesters. Signs of a split within the military emerged, as some army members refused to suppress the protest and at times protected demonstrators from police and security forces.
April 11, 2019: The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) placed al-Bashir under arrest and announced that it would rule for two years, suspend the constitution and close the country’s borders and airspace. It also declared a three-month state of emergency. The following day, senior Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan replaced coup leader Awad Ibn Auf, who had been linked to violence in Darfur, after protests erupted against him.
April–June 2019: Senior SAF officers formed the Transitional Military Council (TMC), led by al-Burhan, and began negotiations with civilian groups over a transitional governance arrangement. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti), was included in the TMC. The group had evolved in 2013 from the Janjaweed militias, which had carried out an ethnic cleansing campaign targeting non-Arab communities in Darfur beginning in 2003.
April 21, 2019: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced a joint $3 billion assistance package to the TMC to “help strengthen the financial position” of Sudan. Protesters rejected the aid, chanting against Gulf involvement while calling for civilian rule.
June 3-4, 2019: The military attacked a Khartoum sit-in and killed more than 120 people. The RSF played a central role in the massacre. The Sudanese Professionals Association, a coalition of trade unions and professional groups that helped to lead the uprising, called for full civil disobedience until a civilian government was in place.
June 30, 2019: Despite an internet blackout after the massacre, resistance committees and other revolutionary groups mobilized millions in nationwide protests against military rule.
August 2019: The TMC and civilian leaders represented by the Forces of Freedom and Change signed a power-sharing agreement establishing a “Sovereignty Council” to oversee the post-Bashir transition, while real power remained with the TMC. The agreement legitimized the RSF as a parallel military force alongside the SAF.
August 21, 2019: Abdalla Hamdok, an economist and former United Nations official, was appointed prime minister.
October 2020: The Trump administration offered to remove Sudan from the US Government’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list and to provide access to debt relief, if Sudan’s transitional government agreed to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords. The United States subsequently removed Sudan from the list and lifted most remaining sanctions.
October 25, 2021: A coup by the SAF and the RSF ousted the civilian leadership.
October 30, 2021: The Resistance Committees led calls for a “March of Millions” against the coup, ushering in a period of civil disobedience and regular Friday marches opposing military rule. Protest demands included free healthcare, the army’s return to the barracks, and the dissolution of the RSF.
January 2, 2022: Hamdok resigned as prime minister.
December 2022: A new round of talks between the military and the Forces of Freedom and Change and other civilian movements produced the “Framework Agreement,” which set out a revised timeline for a transitional government and a transition to civilian rule. The Resistance Committees rejected the agreement.
2023
April 15, 2023: Escalating tensions between the SAF and the RSF erupted into war, driven largely by disputes over integrating the RSF into Sudan’s national armed forces, as both Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Hemedti sought to preserve their power. The Resistance Committees rejected both factions and called for an end to the fighting and an immediate transition to civilian democratic rule. Resistance Committees and other grassroots civil initiatives established local neighborhood “Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs)”: informal, youth-led networks delivering lifesaving assistance in areas beyond the reach of international aid agencies. The ERRs provided food, water, emergency medical care, and organized evacuations for thousands.
April 24-25, 2023: The United States and Saudi Arabia announced a 72-hour ceasefire, the first major attempt to halt the fighting, but it was immediately violated. Subsequent truces also failed.
May 6-31, 2023: US- and Saudi-backed talks between SAF and RSF envoys began in Jeddah. Several agreements on civilian protection and humanitarian access were announced but failed to stop the fighting. On May 31, the SAF suspended its participation in the talks and accused the RSF of failing to honor its commitments.
June 2023: On June 1, the United States imposed its first round of sanctions on entities linked to both the SAF and the RSF. On June 9, Saudi Arabia and the United States announced a 24-hour nationwide ceasefire, effective from June 10. Fighting resumed after the ceasefire expired. By late June, despite both sides declaring a truce for Eid al-Adha, the ceasefire was again violated.
October 26, 2023: The RSF announced that it had seized Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.
2024
Early May 2024: The RSF imposed a siege on al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, blocking food supplies and lifesaving humanitarian assistance from entering the city.
Early June 2024: RSF forces attacked a village in Gezira province, killing at least 100 people, including children.
August 14, 2024: The United States convened talks in Geneva, Switzerland, aimed at easing humanitarian suffering and securing a lasting ceasefire. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE participated as mediators. An RSF delegation attended, while the SAF declined to participate.
Late 2024: The SAF launched a coordinated offensive across Bahri, Khartoum, and Omdurman, retaking significant territory in the capital for the first time since the outbreak of the war.
2025
Early January 2025: Fighting escalated in Khartoum as the SAF regained control of key areas around the capital. The SAF expelled RSF forces from Omdurman, the city across the Nile from Khartoum, and recaptured a major oil refinery north of the capital.
January 7, 2025: Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced US sanctions against RSF commander Hemedti after determining that the RSF had committed genocide in Sudan. On January 16, days before it left office, the Biden administration sanctioned SAF leader al-Burhan for committing “lethal attacks on civilians, including airstrikes against protected infrastructure including schools, markets, and hospitals.”
February 2025: The SAF regained near-total control of Bahri, a city north of Khartoum, and broke the RSF’s two-year siege of al-Obeid, the capital of a strategic region linking Khartoum and Darfur. The same month, the RSF and its allies met in Nairobi, Kenya, to advance plans to establish a parallel government.
March 2025: On March 4, the RSF agreed to a transitional constitution in an effort to claim political legitimacy. The same month, Sudan’s government filed a case with the International Court of Justice against the UAE for its alleged complicity in genocide, citing its military support for the RSF.
Later in the month, the SAF recaptured Khartoum, marking a major turning point in the war with both symbolic and strategic implications. The retaking of the presidential palace, airport, army headquarters, and other key institutions strengthened the SAF’s claim to state sovereignty.
May 2025: The SAF established a civilian-led administration in Port Sudan and appointed former United Nations official Kamal Idris as prime minister. Seeking international legitimacy, the following month Idris announced the formation of a technocratic government referred to as the “Government of Hope.”
July 26, 2025: The RSF announced the formation of the Government of Peace and Unity in Nyala, with Hemedti sworn in as head of its presidential council. RSF members, allied rebel groups, and other political actors formed the rest of the administration. By establishing a rival government shortly after losing Khartoum, the RSF sought to challenge the SAF’s claim to political legitimacy.
September 12, 2025: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the United States, collectively referred to as the Quad, announced a joint roadmap to end the war in Sudan. The proposal called for a three-month humanitarian truce, followed by a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month transitional period leading to civilian-led governance. It also urged an end to external military support and warned that “Sudan’s future cannot be dictated by violent extremist groups […] linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
The same day, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced new sanctions targeting the SAF and several Islamist-aligned actors, citing the need to limit Islamist influence in Sudan and to curb Iran’s regional activities. Those sanctioned included Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (a key faction backing the SAF), and the al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade, an Islamist militia linked to the former Bashir regime which was responsible for attacks on pro-democracy actors.
September 18, 2025: SAF’s al-Burhan rejected the proposed roadmap, stating that negotiations could not proceed without recognition of the government’s legitimacy and that peace could not be achieved without a military resolution. The RSF also resisted ceasefire efforts, believing itself to be close to victory in al-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur outside its control.
October 21, 2025: A drone strike hit an area near Khartoum International Airport, a day before domestic flights were set to resume for the first time since the war began.
October 27, 2025: The RSF announced that it had captured al-Fasher after an 18-month siege. Reports soon emerged of widespread RSF abuses, including mass killings, sexual violence, and other crimes. Famine conditions further deepened Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, with nearly 400,000 people facing starvation.
November 6, 2025: The RSF announced that it had agreed to the Quad ceasefire proposal, even as it continued its military offensives. There was no indication that the SAF had agreed to the truce.
2026
January 2026: Fighting intensified across multiple frontlines as the SAF and the RSF sought to consolidate territorial control and seize key strategic locations. The Kordofan region emerged as a major center of hostilities, while fighting continued in Darfur and other areas. In South Kordofan province, the humanitarian situation in Dilling and Kadugli further deteriorated amid clashes involving RSF ally the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement—North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu.
On January 26, the SAF announced that it had broken a nearly two-year RSF siege on Dilling and regained control over key supply routes. A day later, an RSF drone attack on the town killed dozens of people.
Meanwhile, al-Burhan met Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha as part of efforts to secure regional backing. Al-Burhan had also reportedly visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey earlier that month.
