# Sudan **Sudan** is the site of the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe: a war since April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces under General [[Abdel Fattah al-Burhan]] and the [[Rapid Support Forces]] (RSF) under [[Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo]], "Hemedti" — the two generals who seized power together in 2019 and 2021. More than 14 million people have been displaced. The United States has determined that the RSF committed genocide in Darfur. Russia has sat on both sides: Prigozhin's companies mined gold with the RSF and armed it, and the Russian state later courted Burhan for a Red Sea naval base. > [!note] Canonical country record > This page owns the bare name **Sudan**. The war itself is at [[Sudanese Civil War]]. The companies are at [[M Invest]] and [[Meroe Gold]]; the belligerents at [[Abdel Fattah al-Burhan]], [[Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo]] and [[Rapid Support Forces]]. ## Two generals | Date | Event | |---|---| | Aug 2013 | RSF formed from the Janjaweed militias under Hemedti | | 2017 | [[Omar al-Bashir]] meets Putin; Wagner arrives and [[M Invest]] receives gold concessions | | Apr 11, 2019 | Military ousts Bashir; Burhan heads the junta, Hemedti his deputy | | Jun 3, 2019 | Khartoum sit-in massacre kills more than 100 protesters | | Oct 25, 2021 | Burhan and Hemedti oust the civilian prime minister | | Apr 15, 2023 | War begins between the army and the RSF | | Jan 7, 2025 | US genocide determination against the RSF; Hemedti sanctioned | | Jan 16, 2025 | US sanctions Burhan for blocking aid and rejecting peace talks | | Mar–May 2025 | Army retakes Khartoum | | Aug 30, 2025 | Hemedti sworn in as head of a rival RSF government at Nyala | | Oct 26–27, 2025 | RSF takes El Fasher after an 18-month siege; the UN documents more than 6,000 killed in three days | | Jan 2026 | Army-aligned government returns to Khartoum | | Sep 2026 | US denies Burhan a UN General Assembly visa after he rejects a 90-day truce | ## The scale - **Displaced:** about 14 million at the peak, counting refugees; 8.6 million internally displaced as of mid-2026 after returns (UNHCR). - **Hunger:** about 19.5 million in acute food insecurity (May 2026); famine was confirmed in El Fasher and Kadugli in late 2025. - **Dead:** unknown; estimates range from 150,000 to 400,000. - **El Fasher:** the UN human rights office documented over 6,000 killed during the RSF capture; other estimates are far higher but low-confidence. ## Russia's gold, and both sides Under Bashir, Prigozhin's [[M Invest]] and its subsidiary [[Meroe Gold]] won gold concessions in exchange for political and security help; the US Treasury sanctioned both in July 2020, calling M Invest a cover for Wagner in Sudan. Wagner worked closely with Hemedti's family-run gold business, and in May 2023 the Treasury accused Wagner of supplying surface-to-air missiles to the RSF. After Prigozhin's death the Russian state tilted toward the army: in April 2024 Deputy Foreign Minister Bogdanov offered Burhan military aid. The 2020 agreement for a Russian naval base at Port Sudan — up to four warships and 300 personnel for 25 years — has never been ratified, and no base has been built. ## The UAE and the mediators The [[United Arab Emirates]] is widely accused, including in UN findings, of arming and financing the RSF; it denies this, and in May 2025 the International Court of Justice dismissed Sudan's genocide case against it for lack of jurisdiction. The UAE nonetheless sits in the US-led "Quad" with [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Egypt]], which back the army. The Trump administration has kept the genocide finding; its envoy [[Massad Boulos]] said in September 2026 that neither Burhan nor Hemedti has a future governing Sudan, and has pressed a 90-day humanitarian truce that the RSF says it accepts and the army rejects. On October 7, 2026 Burhan rejected negotiations outright and vowed to retake all RSF-held territory. ## See Also - [[Abdel Fattah al-Burhan]] · [[Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo]] · [[Rapid Support Forces]] · [[Omar al-Bashir]] - [[M Invest]] · [[Meroe Gold]] · [[Wagner Group]] · [[Gold]] · [[Genocide]] - [[United Arab Emirates]] · [[Libya]] · [[Bab el-Mandeb]] · [[Africa]] · [[Countries Hub]]