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Sudan

August 21, 2026

Khartoum 8:17 pm

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Sudanese army soldier stands in front of a tank

Sudan ramps up Saudi Arabia, Turkey contacts amid growing Red Sea cooperation

Sudanese officials held parallel talks in Riyadh and Ankara as Saudi Arabia and Turkey deepen security cooperation around the Red Sea and fighting intensifies in Sudan.

View of some wreckage after the Rapid Support Forces targeted several civilian facilities in Al-Rahad Abu Dakna, one of the largest cities in North Kordofan, on the national highway linking Kosti and el-Obeid, July 25, 2026.

Analysis

RSF turns to drones, new fronts as Sudan battlefield pressure grows

A wave of RSF drone attacks reflects the group fighting back, but it also points to limited supply lines and difficulty mounting ground offensives beyond its territorial strongholds.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Ebrahim HAMID / AFP via Getty Images

Sudan’s RSF attacks Khartoum, seizes border town: What to know

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have escalated attacks after suffering setbacks more than three years into the civil war.

Latest News

Analysis

Amid realignment with Egypt, Turkey steps up support for Sudan’s Burhan

Sudan's de facto leader and armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan greets supporters in Port Sudan, Dec. 29, 2024.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Explainer

China expands Sudan footprint through ports, debt relief, mining

BEIJING, CHINA - MAY 14: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shake hands with Omar Seddik, Sudan's newly appointed foreign minister before their meeting during the China-CELAC Forum at Diaoyutai State Guest House on May 14, 2025 in Beijing, China. The summit includes China's key Latin American trade partners, and comes as Beijing and Washington work on defusing a trade war. (Photo by Florence Lo - Pool/Getty Images)

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

In London, reporting on North Africa and Gulf politics

Rebecca Bradshaw

A construction worker looks at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), near Guba in Ethiopia, on December 26, 2019. - The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 145-metre-high, 1.8-kilometre-long concrete colossus is set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa.
Across Ethiopia, poor farmers and rich businessmen alike eagerly await the more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity officials say it will ultimately provide.
Yet as thousands of workers toil day and night to finish the project, Ethiopian ne

Report: US plans to freeze aid to Ethiopia amid Nile River dam dispute

Foreign Policy reported the proposal by the US State Department could affect up to $130 million in aid as negotiations with Egypt and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam continue.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters following a meeting with members of the UN Security Council about Iran's alleged non-compliance with a nuclear deal and calling for the restoration of sanctions against Iran at United Nations headquarters in New York, August 20, 2020. (Photo by MIKE SEGAR / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MIKE SEGAR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Pompeo floats ending Sudan's terror designation amid push for Israel ties

Sudan's leaders have urged the United States to remove their country from a list of state sponsors of terrorism that also includes North Korea, Iran and Syria.

Pompeo talks Israel, democracy, Nile Dam with Sudanese leaders

Sudan's prime minister said his transitional government lacks the authority to establish relations with Israel and Sudan should be removed from the United States' list of state sponsors of terrorism regardless.

A general view of the Blue Nile river as it passes through the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), near Guba in Ethiopia, on December 26, 2019. - The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 145-metre-high, 1.8-kilometre-long concrete colossus is set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa.
Across Ethiopia, poor farmers and rich businessmen alike eagerly await the more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity officials say it will ultimately provide.
Yet as thousands of workers toil day and night to fin

Egypt lends helping hand to Sudan amid Nile dam talks

Amid the stalled negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Egypt gives priority to winning over Sudan in the dam crisis.

South Sudan's Vice President James Wani Igga (L), Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (C) and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir attend a meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on March 23, 2015 to sign the agreement of principles on Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance dam project. Egypt agreed to a preliminary deal with Ethiopia on a new dam project that Cairo feared would hamper the flow of the Nile, the river on which it depends. AFP PHOTO / ASHRAF SHAZLY (Photo credit should read ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP

Egypt, Sudan kick off another round of Nile dam talks

A new round of meetings between the Nile Basin countries has resumed as Sudan and Egypt try to unite on controlling damage from the Ethiopian dam.

Pope Francis waves at faithfuls from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking St.Peter's square during his Angelus prayer on August 15, 2020 at the Vatican. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP) (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images)

Pope Francis urges Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan to resume Nile dam talks

The pope urged the three Nile states to "continue on the path of dialogue."

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 22, 2019 boats are pictured along the riverbank and off the water of the Nile river delta's Damietta branch near the estuary into the Mediterranean sea, in the town of Ezbel al-Borg in Egypt's northern Governorate of Damietta, some 265 kilometres north of the Egyptian capital. - The Nile, Egypt's lifeline since Pharaonic days, faces massive strain from pollution, over-use and climate change -- and now the threat of a colossal dam being built far upstream in Ethiop

Addis Ababa rejoices over GERD progress as talks drag on

Ethiopia is celebrating its progress on filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, no experts are expressing hope for a binding agreement to emerge from the latest round of tripartite talks.

A photo taken on March 31, 2015 shows the Grand Renaissance Dam under construction near the Sudanese-Ethiopia border. Ethiopia began diverting the Blue Nile in May 2013 to build the 6,000 megawatt dam, which will be Africa's largest when completed in 2017. The leaders of Egypt and Ethiopia promised on March 24 to boost cooperation on the Nile river and turn a page on a long-running row over Addis Ababa's controversial dam project. Egypt, heavily reliant for millennia on the Nile for agriculture and drinking

Panic downriver as Ethiopia's mega dam hits first-year target

Ethiopia's controversial dam on the Nile River has reportedly already met its first-year filling target despite the ongoing disagreements with Egypt and Sudan over its impacts on countries further down the Nile.

Kafule Yigzaw (L) check iron bars at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), near Guba in Ethiopia, on December 26, 2019. - The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 145-metre-high, 1.8-kilometre-long concrete colossus is set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa.
Across Ethiopia, poor farmers and rich businessmen alike eagerly await the more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity officials say it will ultimately provide.
Yet as thousands of workers toil day and night to finish the project, Ethiop

Is diplomacy running out on Egypt-Ethiopia dispute over Nile dam?

The African Union, the UN Security Council and the Trump administration may be last best bets to stave off an Egypt-Ethiopia war.

Workers walk along the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), near Guba in Ethiopia, on December 26, 2019. - The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 145-metre-high, 1.8-kilometre-long concrete colossus is set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa.
Across Ethiopia, poor farmers and rich businessmen alike eagerly await the more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity officials say it will ultimately provide.
Yet as thousands of workers toil day and night to finish the project, Ethiopian negotiators re

Egypt accuses Ethiopia of stonewalling on Nile dam

Egypt has accused Ethiopia of resisting making any of the concessions needed to reach an agreement on Addis Ababa's controversial dam on the Blue Nile.

A general view of the Saddle Dam, part of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopia, near Guba in Ethiopia, on December 26, 2019. - The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 145-metre-high, 1.8-kilometre-long concrete colossus is set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa.
Across Ethiopia, poor farmers and rich businessmen alike eagerly await the more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity officials say it will ultimately provide.
Yet as thousands of workers toil day and night to finish the

Anger flares as Ethiopia announces, denies Nile dam filling has started

Ethiopia has denied reports that the filling of its controversial Nile mega dam has begun.

(FILES) This file photo taken on December 26, 2019 shows a general view of the Blue Nile river as it passes through the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), near Guba in Ethiopia. - The Nile, Egypt's lifeline since Pharaonic days, faces massive strain from pollution, over-use and climate change -- and now the threat of a colossal dam being built far upstream in Ethiopia. When its London-sized reservoir starts to fill this summer, Egypt fears the mega-project will spell an existential threat to its teemin

Eritrea weighs role in Egypt-Ethiopia dispute over Nile dam

Eritrea’s president visited Cairo against the backdrop of the faltering talks on the Nile dam dispute, raising questions about Eritrea’s role in helping reach an agreement between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.