Prehistoric Sudan (before c. 8000 BC) , of the Middle Kingdom, reconstructed under the New Kingdom (about 1200 BC)
Affad 23 is an
archaeological site located in the
Affad region of southern Dongola Reach in northern Sudan, which hosts "the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of the oldest
open-air hut in the world) and diverse
hunting and
gathering loci some 50,000 years old". By the eighth millennium BC, people of a
Neolithic culture had settled into a sedentary way of life there in fortified
mudbrick villages, where they supplemented hunting and fishing on the Nile with grain gathering and cattle herding. Neolithic peoples created cemeteries such as
R12. During the fifth millennium BC, migrations from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into the Nile Valley along with agriculture. The population that resulted from this cultural and genetic mixing developed a social hierarchy over the next centuries which became the
Kingdom of Kerma at 2500 BC. Anthropological and archaeological research indicates that during the predynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were ethnically and culturally nearly identical, and thus, simultaneously evolved systems of pharaonic kingship by 3300 BC.
Kerma culture (2500–1500 BC) The Kerma culture was an early civilization centered in
Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient
Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "
Upper Nubia" (in parts of present-day northern and central Sudan), and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of several
Nile Valley states during the
Middle Kingdom of Egypt. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700–1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of
Saï and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt.
Egyptian Nubia (1504–780 BC) bringing tribute for The Egyptian King
Tutankhamun, 18th dynasty, Tomb of Huy. – BC
Mentuhotep II, the 21st century BC founder of the
Middle Kingdom, is recorded to have undertaken campaigns against Kush in the 29th and 31st years of his reign. This is the earliest Egyptian reference to
Kush; the
Nubian region had gone by other names in the Old Kingdom. Under
Thutmose I, Egypt made several campaigns south. The Egyptians ruled Kush in the New kingdom beginning when the Egyptian King Thutmose I occupied Kush and destroyed its capital, Kerma. This eventually resulted in their annexation of Nubia . Around 1500 BC, Nubia was absorbed into the
New Kingdom of Egypt, but rebellions continued for centuries. After the conquest, Kerma culture was increasingly Egyptianized, yet rebellions continued for 220 years until . Nubia nevertheless became a key province of the New Kingdom, economically, politically, and spiritually. Indeed, major pharaonic ceremonies were held at Jebel Barkal near Napata. As an Egyptian colony from the 16th century BC, Nubia ("Kush") was governed by an Egyptian
Viceroy of Kush. Resistance to the early eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian rule by neighboring Kush is evidenced in the writings of
Ahmose, son of Ebana, an Egyptian warrior who served under Nebpehtrya Ahmose (1539–1514 BC), Djeserkara Amenhotep I (1514–1493 BC), and Aakheperkara Thutmose I (1493–1481 BC). At the end of the
Second Intermediate Period (mid-sixteenth century BC), Egypt faced the twin existential threats—the
Hyksos in the North and the Kushites in the South. Taken from the autobiographical inscriptions on the walls of his tomb-chapel, the Egyptians undertook campaigns to defeat Kush and conquer Nubia under the rule of
Amenhotep I (1514–1493 BC). In Ahmose's writings, the Kushites are described as
archers, "Now after his Majesty had slain the Bedoin of Asia, he sailed upstream to
Upper Nubia to destroy the Nubian bowmen." The tomb writings contain two other references to the Nubian bowmen of Kush. By 1200 BC, Egyptian involvement in the
Dongola Reach was nonexistent. Egypt's international prestige had declined considerably towards the end of the
Third Intermediate Period. Its historical allies, the inhabitants of
Canaan, had fallen to the
Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1020 BC), and then the resurgent
Neo-Assyrian Empire (935–605 BC). The
Assyrians, from the tenth century BC onwards, had once more expanded from northern
Mesopotamia, and conquered a vast empire, including the whole of the
Near East, and much of
Anatolia, the eastern
Mediterranean, the
Caucasus and
early Iron Age Iran. According to Josephus Flavius, the biblical Moses led the Egyptian army in a siege of the Kushite city of Meroe. To end the siege Princess Tharbis was given to Moses as a (diplomatic) bride, and thus the Egyptian army retreated back to Egypt.
Kingdom of Kush (c. 780 BC–350 AD) in
Meroë , .
Xerxes I tomb relief. The
Kingdom of Kush was an ancient
Nubian state centred on the confluences of the
Blue Nile and
White Nile, and the
Atbarah River and the
Nile River. It was established after the
Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the
New Kingdom of Egypt; it was centred at Napata in its early phase. After King
Kashta ("the Kushite") invaded Egypt in the eighth century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as pharaohs of the
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt for nearly a century before being defeated and driven out by the
Assyrians. The Kingdom of Kush is mentioned in the Bible as having saved the Israelites from the wrath of the Assyrians, although disease among the besiegers might have been one of the reasons for the failure to take the city. The war that took place between Pharaoh
Taharqa and the Assyrian king
Sennacherib was a decisive event in Western history, with the Nubians being defeated in their attempts to gain a foothold in the
Near East by Assyria. Sennacherib's successor
Esarhaddon went further and invaded Egypt itself to secure his control of the Levant. This succeeded, as he managed to expel Taharqa from Lower Egypt. Taharqa fled back to Upper Egypt and Nubia, where he died two years later. Lower Egypt came under Assyrian vassalage but proved unruly, unsuccessfully rebelling against the Assyrians. Then, the king
Tantamani, a successor of Taharqa, made a final determined attempt to regain Lower Egypt from the newly reinstated Assyrian vassal
Necho I. He managed to retake
Memphis killing Necho in the process and besieged cities in the Nile Delta.
Ashurbanipal, who had succeeded Esarhaddon, sent a large army in Egypt to regain control. He routed Tantamani near Memphis and, pursuing him,
sacked Thebes. Although the Assyrians immediately departed Upper Egypt after these events, weakened, Thebes peacefully submitted itself to Necho's son
Psamtik I less than a decade later. While this brought an end to the expansive Nubian Empire, the state continued on a smaller scale, centered on
Napata. The city was raided by the Egyptian 590 BC, and sometime soon after to the late-3rd century BC, the Kushite resettled in
Meroë.
Medieval Christian Nubian kingdoms (c. 350–1500) is unclear, but it also might have been located further north, between the fourth and fifth
Nile cataract. On the turn of the fifth century the
Blemmyes established a short-lived state in Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia, probably centred around Talmis (
Kalabsha), but before 450 they were already driven out of the Nile Valley by the Nobatians. The latter eventually founded a kingdom on their own,
Nobatia. By the sixth century there were in total three Nubian kingdoms: Nobatia in the north, which had its capital at Pachoras (
Faras); the central kingdom,
Makuria centred at Tungul (
Old Dongola), about south of modern
Dongola; and
Alodia, in the heartland of the old Kushitic kingdom, which had its capital at
Soba (now a suburb of modern-day Khartoum). Still in the sixth century they converted to Christianity. In the seventh century, probably at some point between 628 and 642, Nobatia was incorporated into Makuria. Between 639 and 641 the Muslim Arabs of the
Rashidun Caliphate conquered
Byzantine Egypt. In
641 or 642 and again in
652 they invaded Nubia but were repelled, making the Nubians one of the few who managed to defeat the Arabs during the
Islamic expansion. Afterward the Makurian king and the Arabs agreed on a
unique non-aggression pact that also included an annual exchange of gifts, thus acknowledging Makuria's independence. While the Arabs failed to conquer Nubia they began to settle east of the Nile, where they eventually founded several port towns and intermarried with the local
Beja. , king of Makuria and Alodia From the mid-eighth to mid-eleventh century the political power and cultural development of Christian Nubia peaked. In 747 Makuria invaded Egypt, which at this time belonged to the declining
Umayyads, and it did so again in the early 960s, when it pushed as far north as
Akhmim. Makuria maintained close dynastic ties with Alodia, perhaps resulting in the temporary unification of the two kingdoms into one state. The culture of the medieval Nubians has been described as "
Afro-Byzantine", but was also increasingly influenced by Arab culture. The state organisation was extremely centralised, being based on the
Byzantine bureaucracy of the sixth and seventh centuries. Arts flourished in the form of pottery paintings and especially wall paintings. The Nubians developed an alphabet for their language,
Old Nobiin, basing it on the
Coptic alphabet, while also using
Greek,
Coptic and
Arabic. Women enjoyed high social status: they had access to education, could own, buy and sell land and often used their wealth to endow churches and church paintings. Even the royal succession was
matrilineal, with the son of the king's sister being the rightful heir. From the late 11th/12th century, Makuria's capital Dongola was in decline, and Alodia's capital declined in the 12th century as well. In the 14th and 15th centuries
Bedouin tribes overran most of Sudan, migrating to the
Butana, the
Gezira,
Kordofan and
Darfur. In 1365 a civil war forced the Makurian court to flee to
Gebel Adda in
Lower Nubia, while Dongola was destroyed and left to the Arabs. Afterwards Makuria continued to exist only as a petty kingdom. After the prosperous reign of king
Joel ( 1463–1484) Makuria collapsed. Coastal areas from southern Sudan up to the port city of
Suakin was succeeded by the
Adal Sultanate in the fifteenth century. To the south, the kingdom of Alodia fell to either the Arabs, commanded by tribal leader
Abdallah Jamma, or the
Funj, an African people originating from the south. Datings range from the
9th century after the Hijra ( 1396–1494), the late 15th century, 1504 to 1509. An alodian rump state might have survived in the form of the
kingdom of Fazughli, lasting until 1685.
Islamic kingdoms of Sennar and Darfur (c. 1500–1820) , built in the 17th century In 1504 the Funj are recorded to have founded the
Kingdom of Sennar, in which Abdallah Jamma's realm was incorporated. By 1523, when Jewish traveller
David Reubeni visited Sudan, the Funj state already extended as far north as Dongola. Meanwhile, Islam began to be preached on the Nile by
Sufi holy men who settled there in the 15th and 16th centuries and by David Reubeni's visit king
Amara Dunqas, previously a Pagan or nominal Christian, was recorded to be Muslim. However, the Funj would retain un-Islamic customs like the divine kingship or the consumption of alcohol until the 18th century. Sudanese
folk Islam preserved many rituals stemming from Christian traditions until the recent past. Soon the Funj came in conflict with the
Ottomans, who had occupied
Suakin and eventually pushed south along the Nile, reaching the third Nile cataract area in 1583/1584. A subsequent Ottoman attempt to capture Dongola was
repelled by the Funj in 1585. Afterwards,
Hannik, located just south of the third cataract, would mark the border between the two states. The aftermath of the Ottoman invasion saw the attempted usurpation of
Ajib, a minor king of northern Nubia. While the Funj eventually killed him in 1611/1612 his successors, the
Abdallab, were granted to govern everything north of the confluence of Blue and White Niles with considerable autonomy. During the 17th century the Funj state reached its widest extent, but in the following century it began to decline. A coup in 1718 brought a dynastic change, while another one in 1761–1762 resulted in the
Hamaj Regency, where the
Hamaj (a people from the Ethiopian borderlands) effectively ruled while the Funj sultans were their mere puppets. Shortly afterwards the sultanate began to fragment; by the early 19th century it was essentially restricted to the Gezira. The coup of 1718 kicked off a policy of pursuing a more orthodox Islam, which in turn promoted the
Arabisation of the state. To legitimise their rule over their Arab subjects the Funj began to propagate an
Umayyad descent narrative. North of the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, as far downstream as
Al Dabbah, the Nubians adopted the tribal identity of the Arab
Jaalin. Until the 19th century Arabic had succeeded in becoming the dominant language of central riverine Sudan and most of Kordofan. West of the Nile, in
Darfur, the Islamic period saw at first the rise of the
Tunjur kingdom, which replaced the old
Daju kingdom in the 15th century and extended as far west as
Wadai. The
Tunjur people were probably Arabised
Berbers and, their ruling elite at least, Muslims. In the 17th century the Tunjur were driven from power by the
Keira sultanate. The Keira state, nominally Muslim since the reign of
Sulayman Solong (r. 1660–1680), was initially a small kingdom in northern
Jebel Marra, but expanded west- and northwards in the early 18th century and eastwards under the rule of
Muhammad Tayrab (r. 1751–1786), peaking in the conquest of Kordofan in 1785. The apogee of this empire, now roughly the size of present-day
Nigeria, would last until 1821.
Turco-Egyptian Sudan and Mahdist Sudan (1820–1899) , ruler of Sudan (1881–1885) In 1821, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt,
Muhammad Ali of Egypt, invaded and conquered northern Sudan. Although technically the
Vali of Egypt under the
Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Ali styled himself as
Khedive of a virtually independent Egypt. Seeking to add Sudan to his domains, he sent his third son Ismail (not to be confused with
Ismaʻil Pasha mentioned later) to conquer the country, and subsequently incorporate it into Egypt. With the exception of the Shaiqiya and the Darfur sultanate in Kordofan, he was met without resistance. The Egyptian policy of conquest was expanded and intensified by
Ibrahim Pasha's son, Ismaʻil, under whose reign most of the remainder of modern-day Sudan was conquered. The Egyptian authorities made significant improvements to the Sudanese infrastructure (mainly in the north), especially with regard to irrigation and cotton production. In 1879, the
Great Powers forced the removal of Ismail and established his son
Tewfik Pasha in his place. Tewfik's corruption and mismanagement resulted in the
'Urabi revolt, which threatened the Khedive's survival. Tewfik appealed for help to the British, who subsequently occupied Egypt in 1882. Sudan was left in the hands of the Khedivial government, and the mismanagement and corruption of its officials. During the Khedivial period, dissent had spread due to harsh taxes imposed on most activities. Taxation on irrigation wells and farming lands were so high most farmers abandoned their farms and livestock. During the 1870s, European initiatives against the
slave trade had an adverse impact on the economy of northern Sudan, precipitating the rise of
Mahdist forces.
Muhammad Ahmad ibn Abd Allah, the
Mahdi (Guided One), offered to the
ansars (his followers) and those who surrendered to him a choice between adopting Islam or being killed. The Mahdiyah (Mahdist regime) imposed traditional Sharia
Islamic laws. On 12 August 1881, an incident occurred at
Aba Island, sparking the outbreak of what became the
Mahdist War. From his announcement of the Mahdiyya in June 1881 until the
fall of Khartoum in January 1885, Muhammad Ahmad led a
successful military campaign against the Turco-Egyptian government of the Sudan, known as the
Turkiyah. Muhammad Ahmad died on 22 June 1885, a mere six months after the conquest of Khartoum. After a power struggle amongst his deputies,
Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, with the help primarily of the
Baggara of western Sudan, overcame the opposition of the others and emerged as the unchallenged leader of the Mahdiyah. After consolidating his power, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad assumed the title of
Khalifa (successor) of the Mahdi, instituted an administration, and appointed
Ansar (who were usually
Baggara) as emirs over each of the several provinces. after his defeat at the
Battle of Omdurman in 1898 Regional relations remained tense throughout much of the Mahdiyah period, largely because of the Khalifa's brutal methods to extend his rule throughout the country. In 1887, a 60,000-man Ansar army invaded
Ethiopia, penetrating as far as
Gondar. In March 1889, king
Yohannes IV of Ethiopia marched on
Metemma; however, after Yohannes fell in battle, the Ethiopian forces withdrew. Abd ar-Rahman an-Nujumi, the Khalifa's general, attempted an invasion of Egypt in 1889, but British-led Egyptian troops defeated the Ansar at Tushkah. The failure of the Egyptian invasion broke the spell of the Ansar's invincibility. The
Belgians prevented the Mahdi's men from conquering
Equatoria, and in 1893, the Italians repelled an Ansar attack at
Agordat (in
Eritrea) and forced the Ansar to withdraw from Ethiopia. In the 1890s, the British sought to re-establish their control over Sudan, once more officially in the name of the Egyptian Khedive, but in actuality treating the country as a British colony. By the early 1890s, British, French, and Belgian claims had converged at the
Nile headwaters. Britain feared that the other powers would take advantage of Sudan's instability to acquire territory previously annexed to Egypt. Apart from these political considerations, Britain wanted to establish control over the Nile to safeguard a planned irrigation dam at
Aswan.
Herbert Kitchener led military campaigns against the
Mahdist Sudan from 1896 to 1898. Kitchener's campaigns culminated in a decisive victory in the
Battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898. A year later, the
Battle of Umm Diwaykarat on 25 November 1899 resulted in the death of
Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, subsequently bringing to an end the Mahdist War.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956) was fought between a group of Muslim dervishes called
Mahdists, who had overrun much of Sudan, and the British forces. In 1899, Britain and Egypt reached an agreement under which Sudan was run by a governor-general appointed by Egypt with British consent. In reality, Sudan was effectively administered as a
Crown colony. The British were keen to reverse the process, started under
Muhammad Ali Pasha, of uniting the
Nile Valley under Egyptian leadership and sought to frustrate all efforts aimed at further uniting the two countries. Under the Delimitation, Sudan's border with Abyssinia was contested by raiding tribesmen trading slaves, breaching boundaries of the law. In 1905 local chieftain Sultan Yambio, reluctant to the end, gave up the struggle with British forces that had occupied the
Kordofan region, finally ending the lawlessness. Ordinances published by Britain enacted a system of taxation. This was following the precedent set by the Khalifa. The main taxes were recognized. These taxes were on land, herds, and date-palms. The continued British administration of Sudan fuelled an increasingly strident nationalist backlash, with Egyptian nationalist leaders determined to force Britain to recognise a single independent union of Egypt and Sudan. With a formal end to Ottoman rule in 1914, Sir
Reginald Wingate was sent that December to occupy Sudan as the new Military Governor.
Hussein Kamel was declared
Sultan of Egypt and Sudan, as was his brother and successor,
Fuad I. They continued upon their insistence of a single Egyptian-Sudanese state even when the
Sultanate of Egypt was retitled as the
Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan, but it was
Saad Zaghloul who continued to be frustrated in the ambitions until his death in 1927. From 1924 until independence in 1956, the British had a policy of running Sudan as two essentially separate territories; the north and south. The
assassination of a Governor-General of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in Cairo was the causative factor; it brought demands of the newly elected
Wafd government from colonial forces. A permanent establishment of two battalions in Khartoum was renamed the
Sudan Defence Force acting as under the government, replacing the former garrison of Egyptian army soldiers, saw action afterward during the
Walwal Incident. The
Wafdist parliamentary majority had rejected
Sarwat Pasha's accommodation plan with
Austen Chamberlain in London; yet Cairo still needed the money. The Sudanese Government's revenue had reached a peak in 1928 at £6.6 million, thereafter the Wafdist disruptions, and Italian borders incursions from Somaliland, London decided to reduce expenditure during the Great Depression. Cotton and gum exports were dwarfed by the necessity to import almost everything from Britain leading to a balance of payments deficit at Khartoum. In July 1936 the Liberal Constitutional leader, Muhammed Mahmoud was persuaded to bring Wafd delegates to London to sign the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, "the beginning of a new stage in Anglo-Egyptian relations", wrote
Anthony Eden. The British Army was allowed to return to Sudan to protect the Canal Zone. They were able to find training facilities, and the RAF was free to fly over Egyptian territory. It did not, however, resolve the problem of Sudan: the Sudanese Intelligentsia agitated for a return to metropolitan rule, conspiring with Germany's agents. , 1912 Italian fascist leader
Benito Mussolini made it clear that he could not invade Abyssinia without first conquering Egypt and Sudan; they intended unification of
Italian Libya with
Italian East Africa. The British Imperial General Staff prepared for military defence of the region, which was thin on the ground. The British ambassador blocked Italian attempts to secure a Non-Aggression Treaty with Egypt-Sudan. But Mahmoud was a supporter of the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem; the region was caught between the Empire's efforts to save the Jews, and moderate Arab calls to halt migration. The Sudanese Government was directly involved militarily in the
East African Campaign. Formed in 1925, the
Sudan Defence Force played an active part in responding to incursions early in World War Two. Italian troops occupied
Kassala and other border areas from
Italian Somaliland during 1940. In 1942, the SDF also played a part in the invasion of the Italian colony by British and Commonwealth forces. The last British
governor-general was
Robert George Howe. The
Egyptian revolution of 1952 finally heralded the beginning of the march towards Sudanese independence. Having abolished the monarchy in 1953, Egypt's new leaders,
Mohammed Naguib, whose mother was Sudanese, and later
Gamal Abdel Nasser, believed the only way to end British domination in Sudan was for Egypt to officially abandon its claims of sovereignty. In addition, Nasser knew it would be difficult for Egypt to govern an impoverished Sudan after its independence. The British on the other hand continued their political and financial support for the Mahdist successor,
Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, who it was believed would resist Egyptian pressure for Sudanese independence. Abd al-Rahman was capable of this, but his regime was plagued by political ineptitude, which garnered a colossal loss of support in northern and central Sudan. Both Egypt and Britain sensed a great instability fomenting, and thus opted to allow both Sudanese regions, north and south to have a free vote on whether they wished independence or a British withdrawal.
Independence (1956–present) A polling process was carried out resulting in the composition of a democratic parliament and
Ismail al-Azhari was elected first Prime Minister and led the first modern Sudanese government. On 1 January 1956, in a special ceremony held at the People's Palace, the Egyptian and British flags were lowered and the new Sudanese flag, composed of green, blue and yellow stripes, was raised in their place by the prime minister
Ismail al-Azhari. Dissatisfaction culminated in a
coup d'état on 25 May 1969. The coup leader, Col.
Gaafar Nimeiry, became prime minister, and the new regime abolished parliament and outlawed all political parties. Disputes between
Marxist and non-Marxist elements within the ruling military coalition resulted in
a briefly successful coup in July 1971, led by the
Sudanese Communist Party. Several days later, anti-communist military elements restored Nimeiry to power. In 1972, the
Addis Ababa Agreement led to a cessation of the north–south civil war and a degree of self-rule. This led to ten years hiatus in the civil war but an end to American investment in the
Jonglei Canal project. This had been considered absolutely essential to irrigate the Upper Nile region and to prevent an environmental catastrophe and wide-scale
famine among the local tribes, most especially the Dinka. In the civil war that followed their homeland was raided, looted, pillaged, and burned. Many of the tribe were murdered in a bloody civil war that raged for over 20 years. Until the early 1970s, Sudan's agricultural output was mostly dedicated to internal consumption. In 1972, the Sudanese government became more pro-Western and made plans to export food and
cash crops. However, commodity prices declined throughout the 1970s causing economic problems for Sudan. At the same time, debt servicing costs, from the money spent mechanizing agriculture, rose. In 1978, the
IMF negotiated a
Structural Adjustment Program with the government. This further promoted the mechanised export agriculture sector. This caused great hardship for the pastoralists of Sudan. In 1976, the Ansars had mounted a bloody but unsuccessful coup attempt. But in July 1977, President Nimeiry met with Ansar leader
Sadiq al-Mahdi, opening the way for a possible reconciliation. Hundreds of political prisoners were released, and in August a general amnesty was announced for all oppositionists.
Bashir era (1989–2019) On 30 June 1989, Colonel
Omar al-Bashir led a bloodless
military coup. The new military government suspended political parties and introduced an Islamic legal code on the national level. Later, al-Bashir carried out purges and executions in the upper ranks of the army, the banning of associations, political parties, and independent newspapers, and the imprisonment of leading political figures and journalists. On 16 October 1993, al-Bashir appointed himself "
President" and disbanded the Revolutionary Command Council. The executive and legislative powers of the council were taken by al-Bashir. In the
1996 general election, he was the only candidate by law to run for election. Sudan became a
one-party state under the
National Congress Party (NCP). During the 1990s,
Hassan al-Turabi, then Speaker of the National Assembly, reached out to
Islamic fundamentalist groups and invited
Osama bin Laden to the country. The United States subsequently listed Sudan as a
state sponsor of terrorism. Following Al Qaeda's
bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S. launched
Operation Infinite Reach and targeted the
Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory, which the U.S. government falsely believed was producing chemical weapons for the terrorist group. Al-Turabi's influence began to wane, and others in favour of more pragmatic leadership tried to change Sudan's
international isolation. The country worked to appease its critics by expelling members of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad and encouraging bin Laden to leave. Before the
2000 presidential election, al-Turabi introduced a bill to reduce the President's powers, prompting al-Bashir to
order a dissolution and declare a
state of emergency. When al-Turabi urged a boycott of the President's re-election campaign signing agreement with
Sudan People's Liberation Army, al-Bashir suspected they were plotting to overthrow the government. Hassan al-Turabi was jailed later the same year. In February 2003, the
Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in favour of
Sudanese Arabs, precipitating the
War in Darfur. The conflict has since been
described as a genocide, and the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued two
arrest warrants for al-Bashir. Arabic-speaking nomadic militias known as the
Janjaweed stand accused of many atrocities. On 9 January 2005, the government signed the
Nairobi Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the
Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) with the objective of ending the
Second Sudanese Civil War. The
United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) was established under the
UN Security Council Resolution 1590 to support its implementation. The peace agreement was a prerequisite to the 2011
referendum: the result was a unanimous vote in favour of secession of
South Sudan; the region of Abyei will hold
its own referendum at a future date. At the time of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, humanitarian needs in Southern Sudan were massive. However, humanitarian organisations under the leadership of the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) managed to ensure sufficient funding to bring relief to the local populations. Along with recovery and development aid, humanitarian projects were included in the 2007 Work Plan of the United Nations and partners. More than 90% of the population of South Sudan live on less than $1 a day, despite the GDP per capita of the entirety of Sudan being $1200 ($3.29/day). . The
Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was the primary member of the
Eastern Front, a coalition of rebel groups operating in eastern Sudan. After the peace agreement, their place was taken in February 2004 after the merger of the larger
Fulani and
Beja Congress with the smaller
Rashaida Free Lions. A peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Eastern Front was signed on 14 October 2006, in Asmara. On 5 May 2006, the
Darfur Peace Agreement was signed, aiming at ending the conflict which had continued for three years up to this point. The Chad–Sudan Conflict (2005–2007) had erupted after the
Battle of Adré triggered a declaration of war by Chad. The leaders of Sudan and Chad signed an agreement in
Saudi Arabia on 3 May 2007 to stop fighting from the
Darfur conflict spilling along their countries' border. In 2007, the United Nations
OCHA decreased its involvement in Southern Sudan, as humanitarian needs gradually diminished, slowly but markedly turning over control to the recovery and development activities of NGOs and community-based organisations. In July 2007 the country was hit by
devastating floods, with over 400,000 people being directly affected. Since 2009, a series of
ongoing conflicts between rival nomadic tribes in Sudan and South Sudan have caused a large number of civilian casualties.
Partition and rehabilitation The
Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the early 2010s between
the Army of Sudan and the
Sudan Revolutionary Front started as a dispute over the oil-rich region of
Abyei in the months leading up to
South Sudanese independence in 2011, though it is also related to civil war in Darfur that is nominally resolved. A year later in 2012 during the
Heglig Crisis Sudan would achieve victory against South Sudan, a war over oil-rich regions between South Sudan's
Unity and Sudan's
South Kordofan states. The events would later be known as the
Sudanese Intifada, which would end only in 2013 after al-Bashir promised he would not seek re-election in 2015. He later broke his promise and sought re-election in 2015, winning through a boycott from the opposition who believed that the elections would not be free and fair. Voter turnout was at a low 46%. On 13 January 2017, US president
Barack Obama signed an Executive Order that lifted many sanctions placed against Sudan and assets of its government held abroad. On 6 October 2017,
Donald Trump lifted most of the remaining sanctions against the country.
2019 Sudanese Revolution and transitional government between military and civilian representatives. On 19 December 2018,
massive protests began after a government decision to triple the price of goods at a time when the country was suffering an acute shortage of foreign currency and inflation of 70 percent. In addition, President al-Bashir, who had been in power for more than 30 years, refused to step down, resulting in the convergence of opposition groups to form a united coalition. The government retaliated by arresting more than 800 opposition figures and protesters, leading to the death of approximately 40 people according to the Human Rights Watch, although the number was much higher than that according to local and civilian reports. The protests continued after the overthrow of his government on 11 April 2019 after a massive sit-in in front of the
Sudanese Armed Forces main headquarters, after which the chiefs of staff decided to intervene and they ordered the arrest of President al-Bashir and declared a three-month state of emergency. Over 100 people died on 3 June after security forces dispersed the sit-in using tear gas and live ammunition in what is known as the
Khartoum massacre, resulting in Sudan's suspension from the African Union. Sudan's youth had been reported to be driving the protests. The protests came to an end when the
Forces for Freedom and Change (an alliance of groups organizing the protests) and
Transitional Military Council (the ruling military government) signed the July 2019 Political Agreement and the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration. He initiated talks with the
IMF and
World Bank aimed at stabilising the economy, which was in dire straits because of shortages of food, fuel and hard currency. Hamdok estimated that US$10bn over two years would suffice to halt the panic, and said that over 70% of the 2018 budget had been spent on civil war-related measures. The governments of
Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates had invested significant sums supporting the military council since Bashir's ouster. On 3 September, Hamdok appointed 14 civilian ministers, including the first female foreign minister and the first Coptic Christian, also a woman. As of August 2021, the country was jointly led by Chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council,
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok.
2021 coup and the al-Burhan regime The Sudanese government announced on 21 September 2021 that there was a failed attempt at a
coup d'état from the military that had led to the arrest of 40 military officers. One month after the attempted coup, another military coup on 25 October 2021 resulted in the deposition of the civilian government, including former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. The coup was led by general
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan who subsequently declared a state of emergency. Burhan took office as the de facto head of state of Sudan and formed a new army-backed government on 11 November 2021. On 21 November 2021, Hamdok was reinstated as prime minister after a political agreement was signed by Burhan to restore the transition to civilian rule (although Burhan retained control). The 14-point deal called for the release of all political prisoners detained during the coup and stipulated that a 2019 constitutional declaration continued to be the basis for a political transition. Hamdok fired the chief of police Khaled Mahdi Ibrahim al-Emam and his second in command Ali Ibrahim. On 2 January 2022, Hamdok announced his resignation from the position of Prime Minister following one of the most deadly protests to date. He was succeeded by
Osman Hussein. By March 2022 over 1,000 people including 148 children had been detained for opposing the coup, there were 25 allegations of rape including 11 children.
2023–present: Instability and civil war ) In April 2023 – as an internationally brokered plan for a transition to civilian rule was discussed – power struggles grew between army commander (and
de facto national leader) Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy,
Hemedti, head of the heavily armed paramilitary
Rapid Support Forces (RSF), formed from the
Janjaweed militia. On 15 April 2023, their conflict erupted into a civil war starting with the
battles in the streets of Khartoum between the army and the RSF – with troops, tanks and planes. By the third day, 400 people had been reported killed and at least 3,500 injured, according to the
United Nations. Among the dead were three workers from the
World Food Programme, triggering a suspension of the organization's work in Sudan, despite ongoing hunger afflicting much of the country. Sudanese General
Yasser al-Atta said the
UAE was providing supplies to RSF, which were being used in the war. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces are
accused of committing war crimes. As of 29 December 2023, over 5.8 million were internally displaced and more than 1.5 million others had fled the country as refugees, and many civilians in
Darfur have been reported dead as part of the
Masalit massacres. Up to 15,000 people were killed in the city of
Geneina. As a result of the war the
World Food Programme released a report on 22 February 2024 saying that more than 95% of Sudan's population could not afford a meal a day. By April 2025, the
famine in Sudan had severely affected nearly 25 million people, including nearly 4 million acutely malnourished children under the age of five. As of April 2024, the United Nations reported that more than 8.6 million people have been forced out of their homes, while 18 million are facing severe hunger, five million of them are at emergency levels. In May 2024, US government officials estimated that at least 150,000 people had died in the war in the past year alone. The RSF's apparent targeting of Black indigenous communities, especially around the city of El Fasher, have led international officials to warn of the risk of history repeating itself with another genocide in the Darfur region. The latest report presented to the UN states that 2025 will see 30.4 million people in Sudan in need of humanitarian aid due to the military conflict in the country.
Widespread killings and rapes were reported after the RSF captured the city of
El Fasher in October 2025. In late 2025, reports emerged that at least 60,000 people may have been killed in El Fasher. == Geography ==