Sudan Civil War Research
23 min read
Compiled March 4, 2026. For the essay "Three Wars" -- on Iran (heavily covered), Gaza (covered but fading), and Sudan (barely covered at all).
The RSF did not appear from nowhere. They were the Janjaweed -- armed nomads from Chad and Sudan, initially supported by the Libyan and Sudanese governments in conflicts during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2003, after rebels in Darfur attacked government installations, President Omar al-Bashir organized the Janjaweed as a counterinsurgency force. They routed the rebels. Then they kept going.
Between 2003 and 2008, the Janjaweed conducted what international observers called ethnic cleansing of the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa peoples. Hundreds of thousands killed. Millions displaced. The International Criminal Court indicted Bashir for genocide.
The weapon worked so well that Bashir formalized it. In August 2013, he restructured the Janjaweed into the Rapid Support Forces and appointed Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo -- known as Hemedti -- as commander. Hemedti was a former camel trader from Darfur with, as one report put it, "a sharp instinct for markets and moods." In 2017, Sudan's parliament passed a law declaring the RSF a "national military force" under the SAF.
A militia born from ethnic cleansing, given a uniform and a budget.
Hemedti did not just command soldiers. In November 2017, the RSF took over control of gold mines in Darfur. By 2019, Hemedti was one of the richest people in Sudan. A confidential UN Security Council report found that $860 million worth of gold was extracted from RSF-controlled mines in Darfur in 2024 alone. The bullion was smuggled west through Chad and the Central African Republic, or south into South Sudan, resurfacing in Gulf refineries. By the time the metal reached Dubai, its origin story had been filed down.
As one analyst described it: "An empire of dust and bullion, buying tomorrow with the proceeds of today."
Sources: Britannica - Janjaweed, Britannica - RSF, Wikipedia - RSF, Anadolu Agency, Chatham House - Gold and the War, Middle East Monitor - Hemedti's Gold Empire
In 2019, mass protests toppled Bashir. The coup was carried out jointly by the SAF -- led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan -- and the RSF, led by Hemedti. For a brief, fragile moment, they were allies. Burhan led the Transitional Sovereignty Council with Hemedti as his deputy, alongside civilians.
Then the cracks opened. In October 2021, Burhan and Hemedti staged a coup against civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and suspended the constitution. After that, they turned on each other.
The triggers were both ideological and material:
In February 2023, the RSF began mass recruitment across Sudan. On April 15, 2023, war broke out.
Sources: CFR Global Conflict Tracker, Brookings - Sudan's Deadly Divide, Arab Center DC
The RSF moved fast. Within weeks, they controlled most of Khartoum. Burhan relocated his government to Port Sudan, on the Red Sea coast. By late 2023, the RSF held most of Darfur, Kordofan, and Gezira state. On June 15, 2023, they captured El Geneina, capital of West Darfur. On December 19, they took Wad Madani, capital of Gezira State.
2024 was the year of consolidation and brutality. The RSF ruled Gezira State for over a year, with civilians and rights groups documenting extrajudicial killings, systematic rape, and looting. October 2024 was the deadliest month for Sudanese civilians since the war began. After an RSF commander defected, militants swept across northern and eastern Gezira, destroying and pillaging villages in retaliation. At least 400 villages were completely depopulated. 115 more partially emptied.
In late 2024, the SAF launched a coordinated offensive around Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri. In January 2025, they drove the RSF out of Omdurman, recaptured a vital oil refinery, and regained near-total control of Bahri. By March 2025, the SAF controlled the majority of Khartoum.
But in Darfur, the opposite was happening. The RSF besieged El Fasher -- capital of North Darfur, the last SAF stronghold in the region -- for 18 months. On October 26, 2025, the RSF captured the city.
What followed the fall of El Fasher was the worst atrocity of the war. The RSF carried out mass executions. At the Saudi Maternity Hospital -- the last functioning hospital -- more than 460 patients and companions were reportedly shot and killed. Videos showed RSF fighters walking through ransacked wards, stepping over bodies, shooting survivors. Six health workers were abducted: four doctors, one nurse, one pharmacist.
Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab estimated that following the October 26 massacre, the "250,000 remaining civilians had been killed by RSF, died, been displaced, or persisted in hiding."
Of the 80,000+ civilians who fled El Fasher, only about 7,000 arrived in Tawila, 60 kilometers away. Tens of thousands remain unaccounted for. Militants extorted fleeing civilians for passage -- 2.5-5 million Sudanese Pounds ($4,000-8,000).
The fighting continues. In South Kordofan, the SAF broke an approximately two-year RSF siege on Dilling in late January 2026. The RSF responded with drone strikes. On March 2, 2026, residential neighborhoods in Dilling came under artillery and drone shelling.
Sources: Wikipedia - Sudanese Civil War, Wikipedia - Siege of El Fasher, Wikipedia - El Fasher Massacre, HRW - Civilians Around El Fasher, NPR - Hospital Massacre, TIME - Missing People
The death toll is contested because it is uncountable.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) estimated at least 28,700 dead from "intentional injuries" as of December 2024 -- but this excludes deaths from malnutrition and disease.
A London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine study used "capture-recapture" methodology and found that in Khartoum State alone, over 61,000 people died between April 2023 and June 2024 -- a 50% increase over pre-war rates. Over 26,000 of those were from violence. And over 90% of deaths went unrecorded.
Tom Perriello, former U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, suggested as many as 400,000 have been killed since April 2023.
The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk reported in 2025: "My office's documentation points to an over two and a half times increase in killings of civilians compared with the previous year."
Sources: HRW World Report 2026, LSHTM Study, Al Jazeera - By the Numbers, WFP - Famine in Sudan, UN News - Brink of Survival
Famine was first confirmed in August 2024 at Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur -- a camp of 500,000 people. It has since been confirmed in El Fasher and Kadugli, with famine risk in 20 additional areas across Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan.
At Zamzam, a child was dying every two hours (MSF, February 2024). Among children screened, 34.8% suffered from acute malnutrition. 10% had severe acute malnutrition. Among children aged six months to two years, nearly 40% were malnourished.
In Um Baru locality, North Darfur, more than half of children under five were found to be acutely malnourished -- among the highest rates ever recorded in a standardized emergency assessment.
Families in Zamzam resorted to eating ambaz -- the leftovers from beans and sesame after oil extraction, normally used as animal feed.
The 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan, totaling $4.2 billion, was only 27% funded. WFP urgently required $700 million for January-June 2026.
Sources: Al Jazeera - WFP Convoy, MSF - Zamzam Camp, UN News - Aid Convoy Attack, Al Jazeera - Drone Attack on Aid
El Geneina, capital of West Darfur. Population before the war: roughly 500,000. The RSF and allied militias conducted a systematic campaign to kill or remove ethnic Masalit residents in waves between April and November 2023.
The killing of Governor Khamis Abakar (June 14, 2023): Hours before his death, Abakar accused the RSF and allied Arab fighters of "genocide" on Al Hadath TV. He was kidnapped, tortured, and executed by RSF commander Abdel Rahman Jumma. Videos showed Abakar being dragged into Jumma's office. Masalit activists said he was killed after refusing to refute his statements about genocide.
After his murder, the killing escalated. On June 13, Sudanese Red Crescent staff counted 2,000 bodies on the streets of El Geneina. Then they stopped counting, overwhelmed by the numbers.
A UN panel estimated between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in El Geneina in 2023. Over 570,000 predominantly Masalit people fled to Chad.
The Ardamata Massacre (November 8, 2023): The RSF and Janjaweed massacred between 800 and 2,000 people. They conducted house-to-house searches, separating men from women, executing adult males and teenage boys. Some victims were burned alive.
A witness told the UN: "On November 6, my colleagues and I counted a total of 95 bodies in Ardamata. They included men, women, and children. Among them was an 18-day-old infant whose lifeless body we found alongside his mother and four other women inside a residential house. The distressing scenes of RSF soldiers executing young men that I witnessed in Ardamata continue to haunt my thoughts every day."
HRW's 2024 report, titled "The Massalit Will Not Come Home," documented abuses through interviews with over 220 survivors. RSF fighters used derogatory racial slurs during their campaign. Adolescent boys and men were singled out, but women and children were also killed.
Sources: HRW - Ethnic Cleansing in West Darfur, Wikipedia - Khamis Abakar, Al Jazeera - Governor Killed, Wikipedia - Ardamata Massacre, Amnesty International - Darfur
After an RSF commander defected in Gezira State, RSF militants swept through villages in retaliation:
Sources: Al Jazeera - 100 Killed in Village, Wikipedia - Gezira Massacres, HRW - RSF Targets Civilians
The RSF attacked Zamzam refugee camp -- home to 500,000 displaced people living in famine. Between 300 and 1,500 were killed (majority women and children). 157+ injured. At least 104 people -- including 75 women, 26 girls, and 3 boys -- most from the Zaghawa ethnic group, were subjected to sexual violence including rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery during a three-day RSF offensive.
Nearly 400,000 people fled, many walking 70 kilometers to Tawila.
Sources: UNICEF - Children Killed in Zamzam, MSF - Zamzam Under Attack, Amnesty International - Zamzam War Crimes
At least 1,003 drone strikes from April 2023 to January 2026 (ACLED data). 80% of drone-related deaths occurred in 2025 alone. Both sides use drones:
SAF drones: Iranian Mohajer-6 (2,000km range), supplied via Russia, Egypt, Eritrea RSF drones: Chinese Wing Loong II, Turkish Bayraktar TB2, Chinese kamikaze drones, Serbian FH-95 drones -- primarily supplied by the UAE via Chad
Key civilian strikes:
Sources: Al Jazeera - 1,000 Drone Attacks, OHCHR - Escalating Drone Attacks, Amnesty International - UAE Weapons
The shelling you noted. Residential neighborhoods hit by artillery and drone fire: Al-Turuq, Al-Marafid, Kajanq, Al-Hilla Al-Jadeeda, Billa, Kanjar, and Al-Mak. Civilian casualties reported, exact numbers unconfirmed. Extensive damage to homes and buildings. The attack followed a ground assault by the RSF and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North.
The bombardment was described as among the heaviest Dilling has seen since the war began.
Source: Darfur24
Omdurman: Daily power cuts of up to eight hours. Two-thirds of medical facilities destroyed or shut down. Only seven hospitals partially functioning. At Al-Buluk pediatric hospital, hundreds of malnourished children in six wards. Dr. Tora Abdul: "There's no room, we keep expanding more and more but the need is too great." At Al-Nao Hospital, NPR witnessed 20 shelling casualties arrive in a single day; three died. Hospital director Dr. Jamal Mohamed: "All of them are civilians. You don't see soldiers here." Mohammed Khair, 65, returned to his century-old family home to find it destroyed. His convenience store looted. Savings stolen. "How can I start again? I don't have any job."
Nyala (South Darfur): February 3-4, 2025 -- airstrikes hit residential areas, destroying homes. 32 killed. 21 injured patients brought to Nyala Teaching Hospital after airstrikes hit a peanut oil factory.
El Fasher (after RSF capture): Famine. "Merciless hunger." Constant artillery shelling. Food, medicine, and relief blocked. Children arriving in Tawila unaccompanied, some as young as three. Women arriving reporting their husbands executed. Shashwat Saraf (Norwegian Refugee Council): "They come here completely dehydrated, disoriented. Some don't even know their own names."
Sources: NPR - Life in Omdurman, TIME - El Fasher Aid Worker
At least 1,294 documented incidents of sexual and gender-based violence across 14 states since April 2023. The actual number is believed to be significantly higher.
Amnesty International documented a calculated three-stage pattern the RSF follows when taking territory:
At Zamzam camp (April 2025): 75 women, 26 girls, and 3 boys -- mostly Zaghawa -- subjected to sexual violence during a three-day offensive.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission concluded the RSF used sexual violence systematically as a weapon of war.
Sources: Amnesty International - RSF Sexual Violence, OHCHR - Attacks on Women, HRW - Khartoum Not Safe for Women
Schools have been destroyed and turned into military barracks or cemeteries. Bookstores were burned.
At Zamzam camp in early 2024, MSF estimated at least one child was dying every two hours. The crude mortality rate was 2.5 per 10,000 people per day -- more than double the emergency threshold.
Three-year-old Latifa sat on her mother's lap at the MSF clinic in Zamzam while a nurse measured her arm to check her nutritional status. She was one of tens of thousands.
MSF was forced to suspend treatment for 2,700 children with less severe malnutrition to focus solely on the most critical cases.
Both sides recruit children. Over 600 RSF child soldiers were killed or injured fighting in Khartoum in August 2023. CNN found that 65 children had been forced to join the RSF in Gezira State alone. ACJPS documented 66 children detained and used by the RSF in West Darfur.
An investigation by Ayin Network found some recruitment was "voluntary" -- exploiting families' desperate economic circumstances. Others were forced. The RSF invokes tribal tradition to compel families to hand over their sons.
In the Iran section of the essay: "the children were in school."
In Sudan: the children were not in school. Ninety percent of them had not been in school for two years. The schools were barracks, shelters, or rubble. The bookstores were burned. A nutrition survey found more than half of children under five in Um Baru were acutely malnourished -- among the highest rates ever recorded anywhere. Children as young as three were arriving in displacement camps alone, unaccompanied, not knowing their own names.
UNICEF's head called it "unimaginable suffering." But the word unimaginable is wrong. It is not unimaginable. It is simply unimagined -- because no one is looking.
Sources: UNICEF - 19 Million Out of School, UNICEF - Unimaginable Suffering, Al Jazeera - Child Dies Every Two Hours, CNN - Enlist or Die, Genocide Watch - Child Soldiers
Tom Perriello, former U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan: "I don't think I've ever seen as big of a disconnect between the scale of a crisis and the scale of media coverage in my life."
Hussein AlAhmad, media professor: "The 'forgetting' of Sudan is less about oversight and more about hierarchies of visibility in global and regional media ecosystems."
Access: Foreign journalists cannot get in. Port Sudan authorities deny visa requests. The RSF only allows access to journalists who speak in their favor. The SAF restricts coverage of its own territory.
Danger: At least 32 journalists killed since April 2023. Journalists detained, tortured, harassed. Over 400 reporters forced into exile.
Infrastructure collapse: 90% of Sudanese media houses destroyed. Telecommunications and internet regularly cut.
Competing crises: Sudan falls victim to what one analyst called "conflict ranking" -- the world focused on Ukraine and Gaza.
Funding cuts: The Trump administration eliminated U.S. Agency for Global Media funding, cutting VOA and other outlets' Sudan coverage capacity.
No footage loop: Unlike Gaza, where phone cameras capture daily footage, Sudan's communication blackouts mean there is no continuous visual record. The algorithm requires images. Sudan provides silence.
Despite 90% of media institutions being damaged or destroyed, journalists created new outlets: Atar Magazine, Sudan War Monitor, and the Sudan Media Forum.
Sources: Nieman Reports - Sudan's Journalists, CPJ - Media Faces Grave Threats, Columbia Journalism Review, UNESCO
These are real people. The essay needs them.
Dr. Altayeb -- Orthopedic surgeon. Fled El Fasher one week before the RSF takeover. His first patient in Tawila was a distant cousin who had lost part of his leg during El Fasher's capture and traveled three days by donkey cart with an open wound. "It was very dangerous because the shelling could start at any moment."
Sondos -- Medical interpreter at El Geneina Teaching Hospital. Unable to graduate because her university closed. Lost her brother, her aunt, and several relatives. Joined volunteers to reopen the hospital's emergency room. "The war took away my greatest achievement."
Dr. Tom Catena -- American physician, medical director at Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains. The only full-time doctor serving a population estimated at over 3 million. Has been there since 2008. In December 2025, he sent a video diary: "There was a drone strike here a couple weeks ago, there were about 40 fatalities." Treats 150,000 patients annually. "Without funding, you can't do anything. You can be the best doctor in the world and have the best staff... You're totally useless without funding."
Mutwakil Ali -- Graduated medical school in 2022. Was one step from becoming a licensed physician when war erupted. Volunteered as a doctor for three months, then fled. "We woke up from bombs being dropped on the military base two blocks away."
Dr. Tora Abdul -- Pediatrician at Al-Buluk Hospital, Omdurman, treating hundreds of malnourished children. "There's no room, we keep expanding more and more but the need is too great."
Dr. Jamal Mohamed -- Hospital director, Al-Nao Hospital, Omdurman. "All of them are civilians. You don't see soldiers here."
Dr. Mohamed Faisal Elsheikh -- Sudanese doctor based in Manchester, spokesperson for Sudan Doctors Network. Called hospital staff heroes: "They really work in a very difficult environment... and yet with all dedication... they saved as much as they could of people's lives."
Hanan -- Community mental health worker in Tawila. Works with traumatized women and abandoned children. Treated four malnourished siblings -- the eldest was 12 -- after their parents died.
Zoubeida -- Midwife from Zamzam. Became a refugee, then joined MSF. Now assists pregnant women and newborns in displacement camps.
Mohammed Khair, 65 -- Returned to his century-old family home in Old Omdurman. Destroyed. His retirement convenience store looted. Savings stolen. "How can I start again? I don't have any job."
Nadra Ahmed -- Seven months pregnant when she was beaten in the leg by an RSF member. Walked 25 miles surrounded by armed guards.
Latifa, 3 -- Photographed on her mother's lap at the MSF clinic in Zamzam, being screened for malnutrition. One of tens of thousands.
Shashwat Saraf -- Director for Sudan at the Norwegian Refugee Council. In Tawila, receiving refugees from El Fasher. "Everybody you talk to is missing family members. And it's getting more difficult by the day." "They come here completely dehydrated, disoriented. Some don't even know their own names."
Somaya Abdalwahab and Mustapha Ezaldeen -- Run Friday Meals, serving 10,000 people weekly through volunteer efforts funded by diaspora donations. Abdalwahab: "We cannot rely on outside help, we only have ourselves."
Jamal -- Save the Children child protection officer working in Zamzam camp.
Lubna Ahmed Hussein -- Architecture student at Sudan University of Science and Technology. Currently volunteering as a teacher in a school while studying online.
Khamis Abakar -- Governor of West Darfur. Accused the RSF of genocide on live television. Kidnapped, tortured, and executed the same day. June 14, 2023.
Halima Idris Salim -- Journalist, Sudan Bukra correspondent. Killed by RSF vehicle.
Sources: MSF UK - Sudanese Staff, NPR - Medical Students, NPR - Omdurman, ABC News - Aid Workers, TIME - El Fasher
Both sides receive weapons from abroad:
RSF receives from: UAE (primary supplier, via Chad -- Chinese GB50A guided bombs, 155mm AH-4 howitzers, drones), Serbia (FH-95 drones), China (kamikaze drones)
SAF receives from: Iran (Mohajer-6 drones), Egypt, Turkey (via Egypt), Russia, with Eritrea as transit hub
Amnesty International identified Chinese weapons on the battlefield that only the UAE had ever purchased. British-made weapons and military equipment -- target systems and engines for armored vehicles -- have been found on RSF battlefields after supply by the UAE.
The UAE denies everything. The gold from Darfur ends up in Dubai. The weapons from the UAE end up in Darfur. The circuit is closed.
Sources: Amnesty International - UAE Chinese Weapons, HRW - Fanning the Flames, Al Jazeera - Drone Warfare
On the famine: Families in Zamzam camp eat ambaz -- the leftovers from beans and sesame after oil extraction, normally used as animal feed.
On visibility: Over 90% of deaths went unrecorded. The algorithm requires images. Sudan provides silence.
On the hospitals: At the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, the last functioning hospital, more than 460 patients were shot. Videos showed RSF fighters stepping over bodies in the wards, shooting survivors. Six health workers were abducted.
On the children: In Sudan, 90% of children had not been in school for two years. The schools were barracks, shelters, or rubble. The bookstores were burned.
On the circuit: The gold from Darfur ends up in Dubai. The weapons from the UAE end up in Darfur.
On the names: Sondos could not graduate because her university closed. She lost her brother, her aunt, and several relatives. She joined volunteers to reopen the hospital. "The war took away my greatest achievement."
On who is not there: 80,000 fled El Fasher. 7,000 arrived in Tawila. The math does not resolve.
On the witness: On November 6, a man counted 95 bodies in Ardamata. Among them was an 18-day-old infant beside his mother and four other women. Then the man stopped counting.
On community response: Somaya Abdalwahab and Mustapha Ezaldeen run Friday Meals, feeding 10,000 people a week. "We cannot rely on outside help, we only have ourselves."
On what a doctor can do: Dr. Tom Catena, the only full-time doctor for 3 million people in the Nuba Mountains: "Without funding, you can't do anything. You can be the best doctor in the world and have the best staff... You're totally useless without funding."
End of research notes.