Sudan Civil War
War between Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces since 15 April 2023; it entered its fourth year in April 2026. Over 150,000 killed and more than 14 million displaced since April 2023 (US State Department, April 2026). The RSF took El Fasher in October 2025 and, as of September 2026, held most of Darfur; from mid-2026 the front was in Kordofan, where the RSF struck El Obeid with drones through June-August while the SAF counter-attacked along the Bara corridor. Both sides fought with foreign-supplied drones (UN Fact-Finding Mission, September 2026); the same Mission traced RSF mercenaries and supplies to networks operating from the UAE, Colombia, Chad, Libya and Somalia. The world's largest displacement emergency (IOM, January 2026).
Sudan, nationwide- Over 150,000 killed and 14 million+ displaced since April 2023 (US State Department, 17 April 2026)
- 20,373+ killed Aug 2024 - Aug 2025 (ACLED)
- 1,400 civilian deaths recorded by the UN in the first half of 2026, over 1,100 of them from drone strikes (OCHA, 24 Aug 2026)
- More than 400 children reportedly killed or injured, Jan - Sept 2026, a significant share by drones (UNICEF, 1 Oct 2026)
El Fasher- About 6,000 killed in three days when the RSF took the city in October 2025 (OHCHR)
- More than 125 aid workers killed since April 2023 (OCHA, as of 9 Jan 2026)
- 71 aid workers killed in Sudan in 2025 alone - the second-deadliest place for humanitarians after Gaza (OCHA, 19 Aug 2026)
- 1 driver killed in an aerial attack on two clearly marked WFP-contracted trucks between Dilling and Kadugli, South Kordofan, 3 Oct 2026 (WFP via UN News, 5 Oct 2026)
- 214 attacks on health care verified since April 2023, with 2,042 deaths and 785 injuries (WHO, as of 4 Apr 2026)
- 184 killed and 295 injured in 13 attacks on health care in Jan - Mar 2026 alone (WHO, 4 Apr 2026)
- 10 health workers, including the medical director, killed in an attack on Al Jabalayn Teaching Hospital on 2 Apr 2026 (WHO and UNICEF, 4 Apr 2026)
- 34 journalists killed and 680 violations recorded since April 2023 (Sudanese Journalists Syndicate, 3 May 2026)
- At least 16 journalists and media workers killed and at least 7 missing (CPJ, 15 Apr 2026)
- Resolution 2791 (Sept 2025) renewed the Darfur-only sanctions and arms embargo for a year.
- A 20 June 2026 press statement demanded the RSF halt its assault on El Obeid.
- On 11 September 2026, Resolution 2828 renewed the regime for one month only (to 9 October 2026) because the US, UK, France and Denmark want the embargo to cover all of Sudan and Russia will not allow "even a hint of broadening".
- As of September 2026 the embargo covered only Darfur, which the RSF already controlled.
- On 8 October 2026 the Council unanimously renewed the Darfur-only regime for two more months, to 11 December, in a US-drafted technical rollover after the US dropped its push for a nationwide arms embargo; the Panel of Experts runs to 11 January 2027.
- Sudan v. United Arab Emirates (Genocide Convention, over UAE support for the RSF in Darfur): on 5 May 2025 the ICJ rejected provisional measures 14-2.
- The ICJ removed Sudan v. United Arab Emirates from its list 9-7 for manifest lack of jurisdiction, because the UAE had filed a reservation to Article IX.
- No merits ruling.
- World's largest displacement emergency, with 15 million+ forced from their homes (IOM, January 2026).
- Famine confirmed in El Fasher and Kadugli (IPC, November 2025).
- Guterres called the simultaneous famines in Sudan and Gaza a "shameful" milestone (August 2026).
- The RSF took El Fasher in October 2025, then moved on El Obeid in 2026.
- US sanctions hit both commanders (January 2025), then an RSF procurement chief and Colombian recruiters; neither commander stopped.
- In September 2026 the US said neither general has a political future.
- Burhan had vowed to fight until the RSF is defeated.
- The RSF accepted a 90-day truce on paper while its drones hit El Obeid.
- As of September 2026 the Quad running the truce talks included the UAE, which UN investigators linked to the RSF supply chain on 3 September.
- On 22 September 2026 the US State Department declared both commanders ineligible to govern Sudan.
- Sudan's address to the 81st General Assembly, scheduled for 24 September 2026, was postponed after the US did not issue Burhan a visa; sources said it was conditioned on his accepting the 90-day truce.
- The Quad and the Quintet met jointly for the first time on 23 September 2026 in New York and agreed on closer coordination.
- An RSF drone strike on a Kordofan University dormitory in El Obeid killed at least five and injured 47, reported on 1 October 2026 (Sudan Doctors Network, via Anadolu).
- A drone strike on the Al Mina Al Bari displacement shelter in El Obeid killed a boy and injured 12 children, by UNICEF's preliminary count (UNICEF, 1 October 2026).
- An aerial attack killed the driver of one of two clearly marked WFP trucks carrying food from Dilling to Kadugli on 3 October 2026; WFP did not say who carried it out (WFP via UN News).
- A swarm of explosive drones hit El Obeid from around 3:30am on 9 October 2026, injuring civilians and damaging homes; Sudan's government blamed the RSF (SUNA; Sudan Horizon).
On 20 June 2026 the Security Council demanded that the RSF halt its assault on El Obeid. The drones kept coming through August, hit a university dormitory and a displacement shelter in the first days of October, and came back in a swarm on 9 October.
On 15 July the ICC told the Council "we cannot say we did not know", and the US used the same meeting to call the ICC an "intolerable threat".
On 24 August the UAE asked the Council to extend the arms embargo to all of Sudan. On 3 September UN investigators placed UAE-linked networks behind the RSF's Colombian mercenaries; on 11 September the Council renewed the Darfur-only embargo for one month, and on 8 October for two more, the US having dropped its push to cover the whole country. As of 19 September the UAE sat in the Quad brokering the truce.
At the UN General Assembly's high-level week the US Secretary of State said the war "would not be happening" without external actors, then declined to name them. Sudan spent the week complaining about a visa. The only mention of Sudan in the UN's written coverage of days two and three of the general debate was a clause in a Latvian list of places where trouble does not stay put.
- Today's top news: Sudan, Ukraine, Occupied Palestinian Territory - OCHA (via GlobalSecurity.org), 2026-01-09
- World Humanitarian Day 2026: Aid workers under fire as armed drones transform war-making - OCHA (via GlobalSecurity.org), 2026-08-19
- Attacks against hospitals and health facilities must end - UNICEF and WHO, 2026-04-04
- Sudanese Journalists Syndicate: 34 journalists killed and 680 violations recorded since the outbreak of war - Voice of Emirates, 2026-05-03
- Sudan's 3 years of war, impunity, and the silencing of the press - Committee to Protect Journalists, 2026-04-15
- Sudanese civil war (2023–present) - Wikipedia
- Marking Three Years of Conflict in Sudan with Sanctions and Appeal for Humanitarian Truce - US State Department, 2026-04-17
- Increased Drone Attacks, Mass Atrocities in War-Torn Sudan Deepening Already Catastrophic Humanitarian Crisis, Top Officials Warn Security Council - UN Meetings Coverage, 2026-08-24
- Sudan's people subject to 'relentless' drone strikes in El Obeid - UN News, 2026-07-03
- Sudan, September 2026 Monthly Forecast - Security Council Report
- Judicial Restraint and Jurisdictional Clarity: Decoding the ICJ's Decision in Sudan v. United Arab Emirates - EJIL: Talk!
- One-Third of Sudan Displaced in 1,000 Days of Conflict, IOM Urges Urgent and Sustained Action - IOM, 2026-01-09
- Famine conditions confirmed in Sudan's Al Fasher and Kadugli but hunger and malnutrition ease where conflict subsides - UNICEF / FAO / WFP, 2025-11-04
- Darfur: Healthcare needs outstrip resources as Security Council extends Sudan sanctions - UN News, 2026-10-08
- Sudan: Driver killed in aerial attack on aid trucks in South Kordofan - UN News, 2026-10-05
- 13 children reportedly killed or injured in drone strike on displacement shelter in Al Obeid, Sudan - UNICEF, 2026-10-01