Aligned Nations · The wars

Sudan's civil war

⚔ The aggressor

The Rapid Support Forces

The RSF, a paramilitary force, turned its guns on the state's army on 15 April 2023 after a dispute over merging into it — in Islamic law, a rebellion (baghy) against the state — and has since besieged and massacred whole cities.

Backed by

  • The United Arab Emirates → The RSFUN experts (January 2024) found 'credible' evidence of UAE arms flights to the RSF through Chad; Sudan took the UAE to the ICJ, which dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction. The UAE denies it.
  • Haftar's forces in Libya → The RSFUN experts reported supply routes for the RSF through eastern Libya.

Their case: Each side blames the other for the first shots in Khartoum; the RSF says it is fighting the army's Islamist-backed hold on power.

Sudan · since April 2023 · updated 2026-10-12

Deaths: At least 59,000 by April 2026 (ACLED) — researchers say up to 100,000 in 2025 alone, and far more from famine

In its fourth year, the war between Sudan's army and the RSF has spread from Darfur — where El Fasher fell with 'hallmarks of genocide' — to Kordofan and Blue Nile, with famine and drone strikes on the displaced.

🇸🇩 Sudan20%

Summary

Fighting broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces under Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ('Hemedti'). The RSF took El Fasher on 26 October 2025 after an 18-month siege and now holds all five Darfur state capitals. Amnesty has documented mass killings, sexual violence and ransom hostage-taking there, and the UN Fact-Finding Mission says the takeover showed 'hallmarks of genocide'.

Famine has been confirmed in El Fasher and Kadugli, and about 19.5 million people face acute hunger. More than 10.5 million are displaced inside Sudan. Drone strikes by both sides killed more than 1,000 civilians in the first five months of 2026, and the UN says foreign suppliers have built up both sides' drone fleets; Sudan has asked the ICC to examine the UAE's role in arming the RSF.

Where it stands: The front is now Kordofan: RSF forces are massing around El Obeid while the army pushes in North Kordofan and West Darfur. A US-pushed 90-day humanitarian truce has stalled. A drone strike near a displacement camp in Blue Nile killed about 30 people, mostly women and children, on 9 October 2026.

The parties

  • Sudanese Armed Forces

    20%

    The state's army has a right to put down an armed rebellion, but it bombs populated areas, obstructs aid and punishes suspected 'collaborators' without justice.

    • Its allied Sudan Shield Forces killed at least 26 civilians in Tayba village (HRW, February 2025).
    • A 'campaign of retaliation' against alleged RSF collaborators, with torture, arbitrary detention and death sentences (HRW, 2026).
    • The UN Fact-Finding Mission finds grave breaches of the laws of war by both sides; truces repeatedly fail as each side seeks battlefield gains.

    🇸🇩 Sudan in the nations ranking20%

  • Rapid Support Forces (RSF)

    Besieged and starved a city, then massacred it along ethnic lines — conduct the UN calls the hallmarks of genocide.

    • Took El Fasher on 26 October 2025 after an 18-month siege; mass killings, sexual violence and hostage-taking (Amnesty).
    • Amnesty (2026): crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in North Darfur.
    • A drone strike in Kalogi, South Kordofan killed 114 people, about 60 of them children (UN Fact-Finding Mission).
    • Has not answered the ICC's cooperation requests; the US warns of new atrocities around El Obeid.

    An armed group, not a nation — not scored in the ranking.

Articles

How each nation is scored — the ten principles of our policy reforms
  1. Justice (adl). No one's land, life, rights or wealth taken unjustly; justice upheld for everyone, even enemies, and what was wrongly taken given back. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  2. Protection of life (hifz al-nafs). Life is sacred: non-combatants never targeted, war only against real aggression, and no help given to another's aggression. Political Policy Reform; the objectives of the sharia (maqasid)
  3. Prohibition of usury and speculation (riba, gharar). Public and private finance built on shared risk and real assets, not interest-bearing debt or speculative bets. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  4. Circulation of wealth and zakat (tadawul al-mal). Wealth must not circulate only among the rich; zakat, endowments and fair wages meet every person's basic needs. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  5. Trust over common resources (amana). Water, energy, minerals and public assets belong to the whole community — not privatised, monopolised or signed away for private or foreign gain. Economic and Financial Policy Reform
  6. Accountability and truthfulness (muhasaba, sidq). Rulers, security forces and firms answer to law and to the public; no coups, state capture, bribery or concealment. Economic, Political and National Policy Reform
  7. Legitimate authority by consultation (shura). Rule rests on the community's consent, given through consultation and a free pledge — not inheritance, force or foreign backing. Political and National Policy Reform
  8. Kept covenants and peacemaking (wafa bil-ahd, sulh). Treaties, contracts and rulings honoured; an offer of peace met with peace; disputes ended by reconciliation. Economic, Financial and Political Policy Reform
  9. Independence and self-reliance (izza). No foreign power or creditor in control of the nation's revenues or decisions; its own strength, industry and knowledge built. Financial and Political Policy Reform
  10. Human dignity, privacy and freedom of worship (karama). Every person's dignity protected — citizen or migrant; no spying on private lives; faiths and places of worship free and safe. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform

These are the principles the Policy Reform pages draw from the expert opinions. Each nation is marked 0–5 on each from its record as a state — its economy, government and treatment of its people, and its conduct in its wars — drawn from UN bodies, the ICJ and ICC, human-rights monitors and the reporting under each war. The ten marks make the percentage; each war a nation started, provoked or joined against another people then takes 15 points off it, and an aggressor always ranks below every nation that started no war. The score judges a state's conduct, not its people or their faith.