Sudan’s soil has been stained red. So far, each generation has inherited a war born from the last — and now they face yet another. To understand the modern day, we must first delve into the past.
In 1899, Sudan came under Anglo-Egyptian rule, administered jointly by Britain and Egypt. Colonial officials divided the country along cultural and religious lines, governing the Muslim, Arab north separately from the Christian south. When the country gained independence in 1956, the new northern-led government ignored the south’s calls for autonomy. Within months, southern soldiers mutinied, sparking what became the First Sudanese Civil War. For nearly two decades, the country was torn apart by fighting that killed around half a million people. The conflict finally ended with the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1972, granting limited self-rule to the south. However, the peace was fragile.
In 1983, President Jaafar Nimeiri broke the Addis Ababa Agreement by imposing Sharia law throughout Sudan, including the predominantly non-Muslim south. The move reignited the war. Under the leadership of John Garang and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), southern forces launched a rebellion that became the Second Sudanese Civil War. Over the next twenty years, more than two million people died, and millions more were displaced. The conflict finally ended in 2005 with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which gave the south the right to self-determination. In 2011, South Sudan gained independence after an overwhelming vote for secession. While the world celebrated the birth of a new nation, several tragedies were overlooked in western Sudan.
In 2003, rebel groups in the Darfur region rose up against the Sudanese government, accusing it of years of political and economic neglect. In response, President Omar al-Bashir armed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, unleashing a campaign of terror against non-Arab communities. Villages were burned, wells poisoned, and civilians massacred and raped. The United Nations later labeled the atrocities a genocide. More than 300,000 people were killed, and over two million were displaced. Among the Janjaweed commanders was Ali Muhammad Ali Abdelrahman, known as Ali Kushayb, who was later charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In October 2025, he was found guilty on all counts. While some perpetrators faced justice, others were rewarded with power.
As the war in Darfur faded from international attention, Bashir sought to legitimize his militias by integrating them into a formal paramilitary force. In 2013, he created the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — better known as Hemedti — who had risen through the ranks of the Janjaweed. Hemedti gained control of gold mines, particularly the lucrative Jebel Amer site in North Darfur, and used the profits to expand his power. By 2017, the RSF had tens of thousands of fighters, vast wealth, and growing political influence. Hemedti also sent thousands of men to fight in Yemen as part of the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition against the Houthis.
By 2019, Sudan’s decades-long dictatorship began to crumble. Civilian protests spread nationwide, demanding the end of Omar al-Bashir’s rule. After months of unrest, Bashir was overthrown by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). A transitional government was formed under a fragile power-sharing agreement between the military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, led by Hemedti. The alliance collapsed in April 2023, when full-scale war erupted between the SAF and the RSF, plunging the country into chaos once more.
As the RSF advanced across western Sudan, reports began to surface of mass killings and ethnic cleansing reminiscent of the 2003 genocide. According to Dabanga Sudan and the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), RSF fighters committed atrocities in the city of El Fasher and across North Darfur, targeting non-Arab groups such as the Fur, Zaghawa, and Berti peoples. HRL’s October 2025 report stated that the RSF’s actions “may rise to the level of genocide,” supported by satellite imagery showing burned villages, mass graves, and forced displacement. The Yale Daily Newsquoted HRL researchers urging global attention: “We cannot afford to be silent as mass killings in Sudan unfold in real time.” Meanwhile, the ICC’s 41st report to the UN Security Council confirmed ongoing investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Today, Sudan continues to face yet another dark chapter in the nation’s history. Millions have fled their homes, seeking refuge in neighboring Egypt, Chad, and South Sudan. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that roughly half of the country faces acute food insecurity, with famine threatening entire regions cut off by fighting. Hospitals have been destroyed, humanitarian aid cut off, and entire communities left to survive without water or electricity. Cities like El Fasher and Khartoum have become battlegrounds, where civilians are trapped between air strikes and militia raids. Despite this, Sudan’s people continue to endure — journalists, doctors, teachers, and ordinary citizens who risk their lives to deliver aid, document atrocities, and keep hope alive. Across the world, Sudanese communities are raising their voices, demanding action from the international community.
Sudan’s story is one of survival. The question now is whether the world will finally listen — or if, once again, silence will write the next chapter in Sudan’s long struggle for peace.
