From uprising to civil war: key events in Sudan since 2019

A Sudanese national flag is attached to a machine gun of Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldiers. Reuters

December 2018: Omar Al Bashir triples the price of bread, sparking street protests across Sudan that quickly morph into a movement calling for the removal of the president, who seized power in a 1989 military coup.

April 2019: Tens of thousands begin a sit-in outside the army’s headquarters in Khartoum to demand that the military remove Al Bashir, whose security forces had killed scores of protesters since December.

April 2019: Al Bashir’s generals, including his one-time supporter Mohamed Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces, remove him from power on April 11 and place him under arrest. Gen Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, Al Bashir’s last defence minister, is appointed interim leader but is forced to step down after one day following protests against his appointment. He is replaced by the army’s inspector-general, Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan.

June 2019: Security forces widely suspected to be dominated by members of the RSF break up the sit-in protest, which continued after Al Bashir’s overthrow to demand that the military hand over power to a civilian government. More than 100 protesters are killed. Talks take place between leaders of the protest movement and the military on a transition to democratic rule.

August 2019: Leaders of the protest movement and the military sign a historic power-sharing agreement that creates a transitional administration. An 11-member Sovereign Council led by Gen Al Burhan is created to act as a collective presidency and career UN economist Abdalla Hamdok is appointed prime minister. They are supposed to lead the country until legislative and presidential elections can be held.

February 2020: Gen Al Burhan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a secret meeting in Entebbe, Uganda. They agree to gradually normalise relations.

October 2020: The military and several rebel groups in the west and south of the country sign a peace deal in Juba, capital of South Sudan. Major rebel groups stay away.

December 2020: The United States removes Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, opening the way for western economic aid and debt forgiveness to begin after decades of international isolation under Al Bashir’s Islamist regime.

October 2021: Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo seize power in a military coup that plunges the country into economic and political crisis. The coup sparks months of street protests that security forces try to suppress with deadly force. The West, led by the US, suspends all aid and negotiations on debt forgiveness involving billions of dollars.

December 2022: Civilian groups and the military sign a framework agreement to restore the democratic transition. Details of the restructuring and role of the armed forces and associated paramilitaries such as the RSF are left for further negotiations.

April 2023: Weeks of tension between Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo boil over into violence. The RSF swiftly seizes Khartoum’s international airport and the presidential palace and lays siege to the army headquarters.

May 2023: A series of ceasefires brokered by Saudi Arabia and the US collapse soon after coming into force, with both sides accused of breaching them.

July 2023: The RSF and allied militias are accused of killing thousands in campaign against ethnic Africans in the western Darfur region, and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.

October 2023: The UN accuses both the army and the RSF of committing war crimes.

December 2023: The US accuses both the army and the RSF of committing war crimes.

December 2023: The RSF captures the city of Wad Madani, south of Khartoum, dealing the army a major blow. The city is in Al Jazeerah region, Sudan’s breadbasket.

March 2024: The army rejects a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Sudan during Ramadan.

April 2024: The US says it is seeking resumption of indirect negotiations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between the RSF and the army.