Sudan war: Power struggle behind the conflict that left 6 Bangladeshi peacekeepers dead
Here is a breakdown of why Sudan became so volatile and where the conflict stands now.
Sudan has been gripped by a devastating civil war since April 2023, triggered by a power struggle between the country's regular army and a powerful paramilitary force, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The conflict has spiralled into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with mass displacement, famine and widespread allegations of war crimes.
The violence again drew attention yesterday (13 December), when six Bangladeshi peacekeepers serving with the United Nations were killed and eight others injured after an attack on a UN base in Sudan's Abyei region.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Here is a breakdown of why Sudan became so volatile and where the conflict stands now.
How did Sudan slide into civil war?
The roots of the conflict lie in Sudan's turbulent transition after the ousting of longtime president Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Bashir was removed by the military in a coup after months of mass protests against his nearly 30-year rule.
Although a joint civilian–military government was formed, hopes of democracy were dashed in October 2021 due to another coup, led by two men who are now at war with each other:
One of them is General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and, in effect, the country's president, and the other is General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, leader of the RSF.
The alliance between the two collapsed over disagreements about handing power to civilians and, crucially, over plans to merge the RSF into the national army and who would command the unified force.
Tensions erupted into open fighting on 15 April 2023. Battles quickly spread across Khartoum and other major cities, plunging the country into full-scale war.
What is the RSF?
The RSF was formally created in 2013 but has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militias accused of committing genocide in Darfur in the 2000s.
Under Hemedti, the force expanded into a well-armed paramilitary group of around 100,000 fighters.
Since then, Gen Dagalo has built a powerful force that has intervened in conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
The RSF has fought in foreign conflicts, controls some gold mines inside Sudan and has been accused of smuggling gold abroad. The Sudanese army alleges that the United Arab Emirates and eastern Libyan forces have supported the RSF with arms and logistics.
Militarily, the RSF has made some significant gains, capturing most of Darfur and large parts of Kordofan, and briefly controlling much of Khartoum before losing the capital to the army in March this year.
Which territory is controlled by the army?
The SAF controls most of the eastern and central parts of the country, including the capital Khartoum and parts of Kordofan. General Burhan operates from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which serves as the headquarters of his UN-recognised government.
The army regained Khartoum in 2025, but the capital was left devastated, with burned-out buildings, destroyed hospitals and damaged infrastructure. While some domestic flights have resumed, insecurity remains, including drone attacks attributed to the RSF.
The army has largely regained control of the strategically important Gezira state. Its loss to the RSF in late 2023 had been a major setback, triggering the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians from its main city, Wad Madani, which had served as a safe haven for people fleeing fighting elsewhere in the country.
Why is Darfur central to the crisis?
Rights groups and many Darfuris accuse the RSF and allied militias of waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur to make the region Arab-dominated, marked by mass killings and widespread sexual violence, including against children.
Human Rights Watch warned in 2024 that the violence against the Massalit and other non-Arab communities could amount to genocide, while the US formally determined that the RSF and its allies had committed genocide and imposed sanctions on Gen Dagalo, followed by similar measures against Gen Burhan.
Although a UN inquiry stopped short of that conclusion and found war crimes by both sides, reports of ongoing atrocities and massacres, particularly in el-Fasher, continue to raise grave fears for hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Peace talks
Several rounds of peace talks, hosted by regional and international actors, have failed.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month during a White House cabinet meeting that President Donald Trump had been personally overseeing efforts to end the war in Sudan, describing him as "the only leader in the world capable of resolving the Sudan crisis."
The US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have jointly proposed a truce that envisions a transition to civilian rule.
However, fighting continues on the ground, with the RSF saying it has accepted the proposal while the SAF has rejected it.
The RSF announced on 6 November that it had agreed to the mediators' plan, and Hemedti said in a video message on 26 November that his force was committed to a unilateral three-month "humanitarian truce." Despite this, RSF attacks continued throughout November.
The RSF commander's announcement came a day after army chief Gen Burhan told senior commanders that he outright rejected the proposal, arguing that it would severely undermine the armed forces, dismantle security agencies and leave the RSF entrenched in its positions.
