KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Below is a timeline of Sudan’s political upheavals in recent years, as the country is convulsed by fighting between the army and the main paramilitary group:
Dec. 19, 2018 – Hundreds protest in the northern city of Atbara against soaring bread prices. Demonstrations spurred by a broader economic crisis quickly spread to Khartoum and other cities. Security services respond with tear gas and gunfire.
April 6, 2019 – Hundreds of thousands of protesters begin a sit-in outside army headquarters in Khartoum. Five days later the army overthrows and detains autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir, ending his three-decade rule. Protesters continue the sit-in, demanding the handover of power to civilians.
June 3, 2019 – Security forces raid the sit-in at the army headquarters. Opposition-linked medics say more than 100 people are killed in the assault.
Aug. 17, 2019 – Civilian groups that backed the uprising sign a deal to share power with the military during a transitional period leading to elections. Later in the month Abdalla Hamdok, an economist and former U.N. official, is appointed to head a government.
Aug. 31, 2020 – Transitional authorities strike a peace agreement with some rebel groups from the restive, western Darfur region and from the southern regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, but two key groups don’t accept the deal.
Oct. 23, 2020 – Sudan joins other Arab states in agreeing to take steps to normalise ties with Israel in a U.S.-brokered deal. Less than two months later, the United States removes Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
June 30, 2021 – Sudan wins approval for relief on at least $56 billion in foreign debt after carrying out economic reforms under the supervision of the International Monetary Fund.
Oct. 25, 2021 – Security forces detain Hamdok and several other top civilians in pre-dawn raids, following weeks of bitter recriminations between civilian and military factions and a failed coup attempt. Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announces that the civilian government and other transitional bodies have been dissolved.
Nov. 21, 2021 – After several mass rallies against the coup and the suspension of most international financial support for Sudan, military leaders and Hamdok announce a deal for his reinstatement as prime minister. Hamdok says he has returned to prevent further bloodshed and protect economic reforms, but resigns less than two months later, as protests continue.
June 16, 2022 – The U.N. World Food Programme says more than a third of Sudan’s population is facing acute food insecurity due to factors including economic and political crises, climate shocks and conflict.
Oct. 25, 2022 – Huge crowds take to the streets of Sudan on the first anniversary of the coup, in one of the largest turnouts in a campaign of anti-military demonstrations. In Khartoum, protesters face tear gas and stun grenades, and one civilian is killed in the neighbouring city of Omdurman, the 119th protest death recorded by medics.
Dec. 5, 2022 – Civilian groups sidelined by the coup sign an initial deal with the military to start a new, two-year political transition and appoint a civilian government.
April 5, 2023 – The signing of a final deal for the transition is delayed for a second time amid disputes over whether the army would be placed under civilian oversight and over plans for the integration of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a large paramilitary group, into the armed forces.
April 13, 2023 – Sudan’s army says mobilisation by the RSF risks confrontation. Two days later, battles break out between the two forces in Khartoum and other cities. The RSF claims to have taken control of key strategic sites, the army disputes this.
(Writing by Nafisa Eltahir and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Gareth Jones and Frances Kerry)
