Sudanese conflict

The term "Sudanese conflict" is most often used today to refer to the armed conflict that erupted on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ("Hemedti"). Fighting began in Khartoum and rapidly spread to Darfur, Kordofan, and Gezira state, displacing millions and triggering what UN agencies have described as one of the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crises.

The 2023 war grew directly out of a power struggle following the October 2021 coup in which the SAF and RSF jointly ousted the civilian-led transitional government that had governed since the 2019 removal of Omar al-Bashir. Disagreements over the timeline and terms for integrating the RSF into the regular army, set out in a December 2022 framework agreement with civilian political forces, became the immediate trigger.

More broadly, "Sudanese conflict" can also encompass earlier and overlapping wars:

• The First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972), ended by the Addis Ababa Agreement.
• The Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), ended by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which paved the way for South Sudan's independence in 2011.
• The War in Darfur, beginning in 2003, which led to International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Omar al-Bashir, including for genocide.
• Ongoing conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011.

The 2023 war has drawn extensive external involvement and mediation attempts, including the Jeddah talks co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and the United States, IGAD initiatives, and African Union engagement. UN experts and humanitarian organisations have documented mass atrocities, particularly RSF-linked violence against the Masalit community in West Darfur, prompting renewed genocide determinations by some governments.