Sudan war tracker

What is happening in Sudan?

Sudan war between the army (SAF) and the RSF: background, key actors, a sourced timeline, what to watch, and monthly conflict events and fatalities for Sudan.

This tracker reports the latest available monthly humanitarian conflict summary for Sudan. It is a country-level pulse, not a comprehensive incident ledger, displacement estimate, or forecast.

Maintained month snapshot

This page records the committed 2026-10-01 HAPI/HDX country summaries published November 2, 2026. JavaScript can refresh newer values; the numbers above remain available without it.

Source: SUZU Monitor weekly pulse snapshot, November 2, 2026. Combined totals are withheld when covered countries report different reference months.

Background

Sudan's war began on 15 April 2023 when fighting erupted in Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. The two had shared power after the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir and jointly seized power in a 2021 coup; UN News says a dispute over integrating the RSF into the army triggered the war. The RSF traces its roots to the Janjaweed militias of the earlier Darfur conflict. Jeddah talks in May 2023, backed by the US and Saudi Arabia, yielded ceasefire pledges that were repeatedly violated. Sources: UN News (1, 2, 3), Al Jazeera.

UNHCR calls Sudan the world's largest displacement crisis and worst humanitarian crisis. OCHA counts 33.7 million people needing assistance in 2026 and more than 9 million displaced inside the country; UNHCR reported in February 2026 that 4.3 million Sudanese refugees were in neighbouring countries, mostly Egypt and eastern Chad. The UN fact-finding mission said in July 2026 the war had killed at least 59,000 people; Al Jazeera cites aid-worker estimates above 200,000. The IPC Famine Review Committee confirmed famine in Zamzam camp near El Fasher in August 2024 and in five areas by December 2024. Sources: UN News (1, 2), OCHA, Al Jazeera (1, 2), UNICEF.

The army retook the presidential palace in Khartoum on 21 March 2025 and holds the east and centre, while the RSF consolidated the west. In July 2025 the RSF-led Tasis alliance announced a parallel government headed by Hemedti, with SPLM-N leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu as deputy. The RSF captured El Fasher, the army's last major Darfur stronghold, in late October 2025 after a siege UN officials put at over 500 days. Fighting has since shifted to Kordofan, where Al Jazeera reports one in five recorded attacks since April 2023 has occurred, and to Blue Nile, where the RSF and SPLM-N entered Kurmuk in August 2026. Sources: Al Jazeera (1, 2, 3, 4), UN News.

Key actors

• Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) — National army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan that holds Khartoum, the east and centre, and in October 2026 rejected negotiations, vowing to retake all RSF-held territory. (Al Jazeera)
• Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — Paramilitary force led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), rooted in the Janjaweed militias, which overran the army's last major Darfur stronghold, El Fasher, in October 2025. (UN News)
• Tasis alliance (parallel government) — RSF-led coalition, formed February 2025, that unveiled a rival government in July 2025 with Hemedti heading its presidential council and Mohamed Hassan al-Ta'aishi as prime minister. (Al Jazeera)
• SPLM-N (al-Hilu faction) — Breakaway faction of the SPLM led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, whose fighters in South Kordofan have aligned with the RSF and joined its parallel government. (Al Jazeera)
• The Quad (US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt) — Mediation grouping whose ceasefire proposal al-Burhan rejected in November 2025 as the worst yet, objecting to the UAE's membership; the RSF then declared a unilateral truce. (Al Jazeera)
• UN Personal Envoy for Sudan (Pekka Haavisto) — Convener, with Switzerland, of the mediators' consultative meetings, most recently in Geneva on 21 October 2026, where neither the government nor the RSF was represented. (UN News)

Timeline

1. April 15, 2023 — Heavy gunfire and explosions rocked Khartoum as fighting began between the army under al-Burhan and the RSF under Hemedti, each side blaming the other. (Al Jazeera)
2. August 1, 2024 — The IPC Famine Review Committee confirmed famine in Zamzam camp, North Darfur, its first famine determination in more than seven years, UNICEF and WFP said. (UNICEF)
3. March 21, 2025 — The army recaptured the presidential palace in Khartoum, its most symbolic gain since launching a counteroffensive against the RSF in September 2024. (Al Jazeera)
4. July 26, 2025 — The RSF-led Tasis alliance unveiled a parallel government, three days before Quad-convened talks, with Hemedti heading its presidential council. (Al Jazeera)
5. October 26, 2025 — The RSF seized El Fasher after an 18-month siege; rights groups and witnesses reported mass killings and sexual violence, and more than 100,000 people fled, per UN figures. (Al Jazeera)
6. February 19, 2026 — The UN fact-finding mission reported that the RSF's conduct in El Fasher bore the hallmarks of genocide against the Zaghawa and Fur communities. (UN News)
7. August 13, 2026 — The RSF and SPLM-N entered Kurmuk in Blue Nile state, on the Ethiopian border, as the army withdrew, military and government sources told Al Jazeera. (Al Jazeera)
8. October 6, 2026 — Al-Burhan told a gathering in Merowe that the army would seize every inch of RSF-held territory and ruled out negotiations. (Al Jazeera)
9. October 23, 2026 — UN rights chief Volker Türk said drone strikes attributed to both sides killed at least 306 people in three weeks of October, 139 of them in a repeat strike at Dibab, West Kordofan. (UN News)

What to watch

• El Obeid encirclement. UN investigators said in July 2026 the RSF was applying El Fasher-style tactics around North Kordofan's capital; a tightening cordon or a breach would signal the siege-then-storm pattern repeating. Tracked in the Armed Conflict Events map layer on the live dashboard.
• Drone strikes on camps and markets. OHCHR attributed at least 306 drone deaths in three weeks of October 2026 to both sides, many at displacement sites; a rising count shows the toll shifting from front lines to shelters. Tracked in the Armed Conflict Events map layer on the live dashboard.
• Outflows to Chad and Egypt. UNHCR counts 4.3 million Sudanese refugees regionally and planned for 470,000 new arrivals in 2026; a surge at Chad's border would mark renewed flight from Darfur or Kordofan. Tracked in the UNHCR Displacement panel on the live dashboard.
• Kordofan connectivity blackouts. OHCHR said telecom and internet outages hindered casualty reporting after Bara fell in October 2025; new shutdowns around El Obeid or Kadugli would again limit what can be verified. Tracked in the Internet Disruptions panel on the live dashboard.
• Army posture toward mediation. Al-Burhan has ruled out talks and neither party attended the October 2026 Geneva consultations; any army move toward the Quad's humanitarian-truce framework would change the trajectory. Tracked in the Country Instability panel on the live dashboard.

Background, actors, timeline and watch list last reviewed October 24, 2026 against the linked sources. They are context for the monthly figures above, not part of the HAPI/HDX dataset.

Country readings

Sudan is not in the Country Instability Index's monitored set, so only its structural resilience reading is shown. Instability is a live 0-100 stress score; resilience is a structural 0-100 index ranked across countries. Both describe each country as a whole, not this crisis alone, and a country without a reading reflects index coverage, not a statement about risk.

Sources: Country Instability Index published pulse and the country resilience index snapshot used on each country page.

Coverage boundary

Sudan (SD). Events outside this list are not included in the live totals on this page.

How to read this tracker

Use these monthly country summaries as a bounded pulse, then inspect the dashboard for event-level context, map layers, and other independent signals. The figures are not forecasts and should not be interpreted as a complete casualty or incident ledger. SUZU Monitor's forecasts are graded separately, and that record is published on the forecast accuracy scorecard.

Questions about the Sudan war

Download: tracker.json. Scope source: SUZU Monitor crisis registry. Maintained metrics: HAPI/HDX humanitarian conflict summaries from the UN OCHA Humanitarian API.

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