---

The conflict in Sudan

The current civil war in Sudan began in April 2023. The United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have led mediation efforts, under a group referred to as the “quad”.

This briefing sets out the conflict’s origins and current state, alleged human rights violations, and the UK and international response. This includes mediation efforts, international court activity, and sanctions.

Origins and current state of conflict

Sudan has been described by the United Nations and UK Government as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. There appears to be little prospect for an end to the civil war that is now in its fourth year.

Outbreak in 2023

In April 2023, armed conflict in Sudan broke out between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The outbreak of conflict followed the removal of Omar al-Bashir as president (who was in office from 1989 to 2019). The transitional government, in which General al-Burhan served as president and head of the armed forces, with Dagalo as his deputy, had been unable to agree on Sudan’s future, including how to transition to civilian rule.

Recent developments in the fighting in 2025/26

Despite attempts at mediation (see below), fighting has continued. In 2025, the RSF established its own separate Sudanese government, based in Nyala in South Darfur, while in 2026, the SAF has re-established a government in the capital, Khartoum (the SAF recaptured Khartoum from the RSF in early 2025). In 2026, the monitoring group Armed Conflict Location Event Dataset (ACLED) has reported increased RSF infighting and increasing drone use in the conflict. Drone strikes caused the vast majority of civilian deaths in the first half of 2026, according to the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher.

Sudan is now largely divided in two, with the RSF dominant in the west, in Darfur, and the SAF holding Khartoum and the east.

Human rights violations and attacks on civilians

The UN Human Rights Council has reported attacks on civilians, humanitarian workers and civilian structures, and conflict-related sexual violence. In January 2025, the Biden administration concluded that “members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan” and that “members of the SAF and the RSF had committed war crimes”.

Civilian casualties and sexual violence

The number of people estimated to have died is not certain but in August 2026 the UN said that the death toll is likely in the hundreds of thousands. The US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies reports death toll estimates vary from 150,000 to 400,000 people.

According to the UN human rights office, there has been widespread use of sexual violence across much of the country, Eva Khair, a health, protection and peacebuilding adviser, told the UN Security Council at a briefing in August 2026: “civilians are trapped between two illegitimate de facto authorities, each pursuing total dominion regardless of whom they crush”.

Jim Shannon MP (DUP) led a debate on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Sudan in Westminster Hall on 11 June 2026.

International Criminal Court investigation

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating crimes allegedly committed in Darfur since April 2023. In July 2026, its deputy prosecutor said the ICC had received “concrete evidence” linking RSF leaders to recent war crimes in the Darfur region.

In 2024, an UN fact-finding mission has said that the ICC’s jurisdiction should be extended beyond Darfur. In 2025, the UK Government argued that the required UN Security Council resolution would likely be vetoed.

Concerns about genocide in Darfur

In October 2025 the RSF captured the Darfur city of El Fasher after laying siege to the city for over a year. In July 2026, the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said that the RSF’s “mass killings, systematic abductions of women and girls, and mass gang rapes” during its take-over of the city “constitute distinct markers of genocide”.

The RSF has acknowledged some violations had occurred, but their scale is exaggerated.

In the UK, several members of the House of Lords raised concerns about the level of violence in Sudan during Second Reading of the Genocide Determination Bill on 17 July 2026. This is a private member’s bill sponsored by Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench). Government whip Lord Katz set out the UK government’s long-standing policy:

Any formal judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent national or international court after considering all necessary evidence and as part of a credible judicial process, including appropriate jurisdiction.

Lord Katz also referred to the creation in early 2026 of the coalition for atrocity prevention and justice in Sudan, which he said was aimed at “uniting the international community around the goal of preventing another El Fasher”.

The Commons Library briefing, The obligation to prevent genocide,  sets out the international and UK law on genocide and recent cases on this issue.

Humanitarian situation

Humanitarian need remains high.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (UNOCHA) humanitarian response plan for 2026 estimates that around 33.7 million people require support (this is around two thirds of the population of Sudan and the highest number since the conflict began in 2023).

Around 13 million people have also been displaced, either within Sudan or to neighbouring states.

In May 2026, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification projected that around 41% of the country’s population (19.5 million people) were in high levels of food insecurity (between February and May 2026). It expected around 200,000 people to be in famine conditions from June to September.

Further data on the humanitarian situation in July 2026 is available from UN OCHA.

Mediation efforts

Mediation efforts in Sudan have been led by the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (sometimes referred to as ‘the quad’).

Quad roadmap, 2025

In September 2025, the quad countries agreed a roadmap for a ceasefire. The roadmap called:

• on all parties to facilitate humanitarian access
• for an end to all external military support for the two sides
• for respect for Sudan’s territorial unity and sovereignty

The quad countries also called for an initial three-month humanitarian truce to lead to a permanent ceasefire and, within nine months, the conclusion of a transition process to a civilian-led government.  

In June 2026, consultations with “Sudanese political and civilian stakeholders” were held by ‘the Quintet’ (the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, the European Union and the UN).

Regional rifts affecting peace efforts

Rifts between Quad members, notably Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who support the SAF and RSF respectively, have “cast a shadow over the roadmap negotiations”, according to the International Crisis Group. The UAE denies providing any weapons to the RSF.

Crisis Group also suggest the involvement of multiple foreign countries, including immediate neighbours and some of the Arab Gulf States, has “hampered” peace efforts. Crisis Group also warns that the conflict is “roiling nearby countries” with “effects apparent in Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Yemen”.

In a report released in early September 2026, the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan has documented how “foreign recruitment and external support networks are fuelling the war”. The chair of the mission, Mohamed Othman, called for action against the “individuals, entities and networks that enable it to continue.”

This call for action was echoed by Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, in a briefing to the UN Security Council in August 2026. Mr Fletcher described how “others use Sudan's land and people as pieces in a regional struggle for power, gold and pride” and suggested the world is “too often indifferent and distracted”. He argued “the tragedy of Sudan is not that we do not know what to do. It is that we have not yet found the will to do it”.

However, Crisis Group, among others, suggest there is little current appetite among the SAF and RSF to resolve their differences and that prospects for a negotiated settlement “remain dim”. A former UN diplomat in Sudan, David Raiko, has argued that Western states have “almost no direct leverage” with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (SAF) and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (RSF), neither of whom, he said are particularly concerned with Sudan’s national interest or international influence:

These men consider themselves locked in a winner-take-all fight to the death for power, and they have little interest making any concessions that might disadvantage them even a little.

UK Government actions and statements

The UK has backed mediation efforts in the conflict, including hosting two conferences in 2025. It has also announced a series of sanctions targeting human rights violations. UK aid to Sudan is one of the protected areas of the UK aid budget as it is reduced to 0.3% of gross national income.

UK backing for the quad and hosting of talks 

In June 2026, the UK, the US and others issued a statement backing the Quintet’s consultations to advance a “comprehensive and inclusive Sudanese civilian-led dialogue process”.

The UK Government has backed the quad’s initiative. It had earlier hosted a conference on Sudan in April 2025 and a follow-up ministerial-level meeting in September 2025.

In 2024, a UN Security Council resolution,co-drafted by the UK calling an immediate ceasefire, had been vetoed by Russia.

Diplomatic statements in 2026

The government set out its position on Sudan at a UN Security Council meeting in August 2026:

An end to this suffering will only come through an humanitarian truce, a permanent ceasefire and an inclusive civilian-led political process to secure a sustainable peace. 

The government expressed support for the Quad’s efforts to broker a humanitarian truce; work towards confidence-building measures; and to build an inclusive inter-Sudanese dialogue.

Kirsty McNeill, the Minister for International Development, spoke to her counterparts in Ethiopia and the African Union about regional efforts to end the conflict during a visit to Addis Ababa in late August 2026.

Sanctions

The UK has also applied sanctions against individuals suspected of committing atrocities in Sudan and providing external support. On 16 July 2026, the UK sanctioned eleven individuals and entities linked to the illicit gold and financing networks sustaining the war in Sudan. A list of designations and sanctions notices for Sudan can be found on gov.uk.

Some MPs have expressed a concern that UK arms sold to the UAE may have been deployed by the RSF in Sudan (the UAE strongly denies that it is supplying weaponry to any party in the Sudan conflict). The UK Government says that the UK “is providing no arms that are of use in the conflict”. The government has called on all external actors to cease financial and other support to the SAF and the RSF.

UK aid spending

Although UK aid spending is going to be reduced to 0.3% of gross national income by 2027, the government says it is “fully protecting our allocation to Sudan”.

Since the conflict began, the UK has significantly increased bilateral aid spending for Sudan; from £50 million in 2023/24 to £146 million in each subsequent year to 2025/26 (PDF).

The government plans to keep bilateral aid at the same level to 2028/29 (PDF). Aid may also be spent through multilateral routes, such as UN agencies. 

Further resources on the conflict in Sudan

• Commons Library briefing, Sudan: The “forgotten” conflict, February 2024. Provides an overview of the conflict’s origins.
• Lords Library briefing, Humanitarian situation in Sudan, November 2025. Summary of humanitarian need, the UK response and parliamentary proceedings relating to the conflict.
• Independent Commission for Aid Impact, UK aid to Sudan, October 2025. Review of UK aid to Sudan and its effectiveness.
• International Crisis Group, Divided Sudan, elusive peace, April 2026, and the Council on Foreign Relations, Civil war in Sudan, May 2026, provide an overview of the conflict in 2026. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies set out the impact of the war in 10 charts (April 2026).
• Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, established by the UN Human Rights Council in October 2023, contains lists of reports, statements and press releases.