Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan

Force in Play

Leading the war against the Rapid Support Forces

Ahmed Haroun has been a wanted man since 2007, when the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his role in the Darfur campaign. On Sunday, Sudanese soldiers took him from his home in Omdurman, one day after he gave his first filmed interview in seven years.

Updated 3 days ago

Force in Play

Commands the SAF, which Abyei officials blame for the October 19 market strike that killed at least 153 people

Drone strikes killed civilians in West Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the first days of November, adding to a toll that includes at least 153 dead at Amiet Market in Abyei on October 19. The October 26 strike on Tanqong Market in Nyala is now put at 188 killed and 356 wounded by the Sudan Founding Alliance's Government of Peace and Unity, figures not independently verified.

Updated 3 days ago

Force in Play

Leading the war against the RSF; has rejected ceasefire proposals

Ethiopia ordered six Sudanese consular staff in the border town of Asosa to leave within 48 hours and shut the consulate. Sudan answered by closing Ethiopia's consulate in Gadarif and declaring its diplomats persona non grata.

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

Directing the army's air campaign against RSF-held territory

More than 100 people were killed in a drone strike on the Tangooj night market in Nyala on October 26, according to the Emergency Lawyers rights group, and the administration that runs the city has since put the toll at 188 dead and 356 wounded. Neither count has been independently verified.

Updated Oct 28

Force in Play

Presiding over Sudan's civil war against the RSF

Satellite images analysed by AFP place the October 10 strike on an artisanal gold mine inside the Halayeb Triangle, a border area both Egypt and Sudan claim. The strike hit about 8.7km north of the 22nd parallel; Emergency Lawyers says at least 114 miners were killed.

Updated Oct 25

Force in Play

Rejected talks on 9 October; in late October named a new head of Sudan's side of the Abyei committee and wrote to the US and German leaders, insisting the RSF disarm before any truce

Drone strikes killed at least 306 people across Sudan in the first three weeks of October, the UN human rights office said on 23 October, attributing them to both the army and the Rapid Support Forces. The deadliest hit a transport truck in Dibab, West Kordofan, on 18 October, killing at least 139 in what the office called a repeat "double tap" strike.

Updated Oct 24

Force in Play

As of October 2026: Directing army campaigns across North Kordofan; says army won't compromise

The Sudanese Armed Forces has extended its gains in North Kordofan since recapturing Sodri on September 25. On October 2, the army said it captured al-Mazroub, a town about 130 kilometers northwest of El-Obeid.

Updated Oct 5

Force in Play

As of September 2026: Leading the military campaign that retook Khartoum in 2025

Five million Sudanese have gone home since the army retook Khartoum in 2025. Many are returning to damaged homes, closed schools, and clinics that barely function.

Updated Sep 22

Force in Play

As of July 2026: Leading the army's Kordofan offensive

For nearly two years, the people of El Obeid lived under a paramilitary siege that cut off food, fuel, and medicine. On July 26, 2026, Sudan's army broke it. Soldiers took the town of Bara and four nearby villages, then seized the full 350-kilometer Al Sadarat highway linking El Obeid to Omdurman.

Updated Jul 27

Force in Play

As of June 2026: De facto head of state; rejects a ceasefire unless the RSF disarms

Sudan's army and a rival paramilitary force have fought for three years. On June 8, the United States and seven allies threw their weight behind a new plan: get Sudanese civilians, not the two warring generals, to negotiate the country's future.

Updated Jun 8

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Leading SAF military campaign; returned government to Khartoum in January 2026

The United Nations reopened its Khartoum headquarters Thursday, nearly three years after staff fled when civil war broke out in April 2023. The Sudanese Armed Forces recaptured the capital in March 2025, and more than two million people have since returned.

Updated May 30

Built World

As of May 2026: Leading Sudan's military in civil war while navigating GERD dispute

Ethiopia flipped the switch on Africa's largest dam September 9, 2025, without Egypt's blessing. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam holds 74 billion cubic meters of water, enough to double Ethiopia's power output and, Egypt fears, cut freshwater supplies for 107 million Egyptians.

Updated May 19

Force in Play

As of May 2026: De facto head of state, controls central and eastern Sudan

Two of every five Sudanese now lack enough food. Three UN agencies said on May 15 that 19.5 million people across Sudan face crisis-level hunger after three years of war between the national army and a paramilitary force.

Updated May 15