Country · SD
Sudan
السودان סודאן4 parties on file
Timeline · 14 events
Region timeline →-
Sudan: Civil war breaks out between SAF and RSF
Two years after they jointly overthrew the civilian transitional government, the Sudanese Armed Forces under Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces under Hemedti turned on each other. Fighting started in Khartoum and Merowe air base and spread within days to most major cities. By 2026, it had become the world's largest displacement crisis and largest hunger emergency; the RSF held much of Darfur, the SAF held the east and north, and the country had effectively partitioned.
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Sudanese civil war begins
Open warfare broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (led by Sovereignty Council chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan) and the Rapid Support Forces (led by Hemedti) on 2023-04-15. The war has displaced over 10 million Sudanese and shows no signs of resolution.
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Sudanese 2021 coup
Generals Burhan and Hemedti seized full control of the Sudanese transitional government on 2021-10-25, dissolving the civilian-led cabinet that had been in power since the 2019 overthrow of Bashir. Set the conditions for the 2023 fallout between the two men into civil war.
Show 11 earlier events (1946–2019)
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Transitional authorities dissolve Bashir's NCP
On 28 November 2019, months after the popular uprising and military removal of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's transitional Sovereignty Council passed a law dissolving the National Congress Party, banning it from politics, confiscating its assets and removing its members from public institutions — dismantling the apparatus of 30 years of NCP rule.
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Omar al-Bashir overthrown
A military coup overthrew Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on 2019-04-11 after months of mass protests. Initially seen as a democratic opening, the transition was derailed by the October 2021 al-Burhan coup and the 2023 outbreak of war with the RSF.
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SCP helps lead the 2018–2019 revolution against Bashir
The Sudanese Communist Party — through its base in the Sudanese Professionals Association and the Forces of Freedom and Change — was a leading organizer of the uprising that began in December 2018 and toppled Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. It then pressed hardest for an immediate handover to civilian rule, later breaking with the transitional power-sharing deal.
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ICC issues arrest warrant for NCP leader Bashir over Darfur
On 4 March 2009 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, adding genocide charges in July 2010 — the first ICC warrant for a sitting head of state. The NCP-led government was accused of arming Janjaweed militias responsible for an estimated 300,000 deaths and 2.7 million displaced.
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National Congress Party founded as Bashir's ruling vehicle
The National Congress Party (NCP) was established in 1998 as the successor to the National Islamic Front, becoming the ruling party of Omar al-Bashir's Islamist-military regime. It dominated Sudanese politics, the security services and the economy until Bashir's overthrow in April 2019.
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Bashir's coup overthrows the elected Umma-led government
On 30 June 1989 Colonel Omar al-Bashir, in alliance with Hassan al-Turabi's National Islamic Front, seized power in a coup that ousted Sadiq al-Mahdi's elected Umma-led government and established the Revolutionary Command Council. It ended Sudan's brief democratic interlude and began three decades of Islamist-military rule; the Umma Party continued as opposition under al-Mahdi.
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Umma Party wins 1986 election; Sadiq al-Mahdi becomes prime minister
After the 1985 popular uprising toppled Jaafar Nimeiry, the Umma Party won the largest share in Sudan's 1986 multiparty election and its leader Sadiq al-Mahdi — great-grandson of the Mahdi — became prime minister on 6 May 1986, heading a coalition with the Democratic Unionist Party. It was Sudan's last freely elected government for more than three decades.
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DUP joins the 1986 Umma-led coalition; Mirghani heads of state
After finishing second in Sudan's 1986 multiparty election, the DUP joined Sadiq al-Mahdi's Umma-led coalition government, and Ahmed al-Mirghani became chairman of the Supreme Council (head of state). Like the Umma, the DUP hesitated to abolish Nimeiry's 1983 sharia "September Laws," a standoff that helped pave the way for Bashir's 1989 coup.
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SCP-linked 1971 coup against Nimeiry fails; party leaders executed
On 19 July 1971 officers led by Hashem al-Atta, close to the Sudanese Communist Party, briefly seized power from Jaafar Nimeiry. Nimeiry loyalists retook Khartoum within three days; he then blamed the SCP and executed several of its leaders, including secretary-general Abdel Khaliq Mahjub and union leader al-Shafie Ahmed el-Sheikh — a blow from which the party never fully recovered.
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Democratic Unionist Party (re)formed around the Khatmiyya order
The Democratic Unionist Party took its modern form in December 1967 when Ismail al-Azhari's urban nationalists and the Khatmiyya Sufi order led by Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani reunited. Heir to the 1952 National Unionist Party and rooted in the 19th-century Khatmiyya, the DUP is among Sudan's oldest parties and the historic rival of the Mahdist Umma.
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Sudanese Communist Party founded
Founded in 1946 (initially as the Sudanese Movement for National Liberation) among students and workers under British rule, the Sudanese Communist Party grew into one of the strongest communist parties in Africa and the Arab world, with deep roots in the trade unions and professional syndicates.
Marquee bills
All bills →Compass · Sudan
Country mean — Economic -1.2, Social -0.3
Ringed dots are parties currently in government. See the full regional compass · hand-coded estimates; methodology.
Current leadership
- Head of state In gov
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan عبد الفتاح البرهان
Independent
Chairman of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and de facto head of state since 2019; commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces in the ongoing war with the RSF.
- Party leader
Sadiq al-Mahdi الصادق المهدي
National Umma Party
Leader of the National Umma Party until his death in 2020. Sudan's last democratically elected Prime Minister (1986-1989), overthrown by Bashir's 1989 coup.
- Other
Abdalla Hamdok عبد الله حمدوك
Independent
Civilian Prime Minister of Sudan during the post-Bashir transition (2019–2022). Economist by background; previously deputy executive secretary at UNECA. Was deposed by Burhan's October 2021 coup, briefly reinstated under a discredited deal that month, and resigned in January 2022. Now leads the Sudan Founding Alliance (Taqaddum), the main civilian political bloc trying to position for the post-war settlement.
- Other
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) محمد حمدان دقلو (حميدتي)
Independent
Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF); former deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council. Leader of the RSF side in the Sudanese civil war that began in April 2023.
Parties
- Democratic Unionist Party الحزب الاتحادي الديمقراطي
Led by · Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani
Centrist nationalist party rooted in the Khatmiyya Sufi order; long-time rival of the Umma Party in Sudanese politics.
- National Congress Party حزب المؤتمر الوطني
Omar al-Bashir's Islamist ruling party, dominant from 1998; dissolved after his 2019 overthrow.
- National Umma Party حزب الأمة القومي
Led by · Fadlallah Burma Nasir
Mahdist-rooted moderate-Islamist party with a centrist civic line; historically associated with Sadiq al-Mahdi.
- Sudanese Communist Party الحزب الشيوعي السوداني
Led by · Mohammed Mukhtar al-Khatib
Long-standing Sudanese Marxist party; has been periodically banned and persecuted across multiple regimes.
Source documents · 15
All docs →- Hemedti (Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, RSF commander) — on the RSF-led Tasis ("Founding") Alliance and its 1 July 2025 parallel-government declaration (The EastAfrican): "We are not building a parallel state… we are building the only realistic future for Sudan," and the alliance's charter for a decentralised federal, secular, democratic state. (Declared vision vs the RSF's record — Hemedti is US-designated for genocide.) 66 words
- Abdalla Hamdok (chair, Sumoud civilian-democratic coalition; former PM) — Sumoud's founding statement, Feb 2025 (via Sudans Post): democratic civil forces must keep an independent path, refuse to side with any party in the war, protect civilians, and push for an urgent political end to the war. (The civilian pole vs Burhan's army and Hemedti's RSF.) 120 words
- Abdel Fattah al-Burhan address to the 79th UN General Assembly, 26 Sep 2024 (English translation of Arabic original) 516 words
- Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — 79th UN General Assembly speech (26 Sep 2024) 111 words
- Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — Address to the 79th UN General Assembly, 26 September 2024 (official English interpretation of Arabic) 151 words
- Hemedti (Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo) — public statement on negotiations and the war with al-Burhan, 18 August 2024 (English translation of Arabic) 245 words
How to cite
Each record carries a retrieval date because the dataset is live — individual entries update as verification deepens. Use the per-record citation when referencing this specific profile; use the dataset citation below when referencing the project as a whole.
In-text: (Gara, 2026)
Per-record citation
APA 7Reference list · academic default
Gara, T. (2026). Sudan [Country profile]. Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/SD
Chicago author-dateCommon in political-science journals
Gara, Tarek. 2026. "Sudan." Country profile, Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Accessed August 6, 2026. https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/SD.
BibTeXFor LaTeX / Zotero / reference managers
@misc{tayyar-country-sd,
title = {{Sudan}},
author = {Gara, Tarek},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset},
type = {Country profile},
url = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/SD},
urldate = {2026-08-06},
note = {First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.}
} Dataset / working-paper citation
If you're citing Tayyar as a project rather than this individual record.
APA 7Preprint
Gara, T. (2026). Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset [Preprint]. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper
BibTeXPreprint
@unpublished{tayyar-preprint,
title = {{Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset}},
author = {Gara, Tarek},
year = {2026},
type = {Preprint},
url = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper},
urldate = {2026-08-06},
note = {Living document, regenerated from the live dataset on page load.}
} First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.