The latest chapter in Sudan's civil war has captured the world's attention.
Humanitarian groups and activists say the signs of ethnic cleansing and humanitarian catastrophe have been apparent for years.
But the recent capture of a major city in the country's west has led to multiple reports of alleged crimes against humanity, with satellite images showing what could be evidence of mass killings.
So, who's fighting who, how did things get this way and what does it mean for the people caught in the middle of it all?
To understand what's happening now, it helps to understand some of the country's history.
The dictator accused of brutal genocide
Sudan gained its independence from British and Egyptian rule in 1956 and ever since has endured multiple military coups and brutal dictatorships.
The most relevant of these began in 1989 when military leader Omar al-Bashir seized power and became the country's head of state — a role he would keep for another 30 years.
In 2003, his government launched a violent crackdown on rebels in the Darfur region of western Sudan, enlisting the help of a nomadic Arab militia known as the Janjaweed.
The Janjaweed and al-Bashir government were later accused by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of killing an estimated 300,000 people and displacing another 2 million — primarily from the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.
In the late 2000s, al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be charged with crimes against humanity and soon after, genocide.
In 2013, the Janjaweed, which was also accused of genocide, restructured to become a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
After 30 years, another military coup
Nationwide protests in 2019 eventually led to yet another coup that saw al-Bashir overthrown and a transition government formed as a pathway towards democratic elections.
The coup was jointly carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, led by another general, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as "Hemedti".
An alliance was formed between the military and a civilian-led coalition called the Forces of Freedom and Change.
The deal they struck was for the military to eventually return power to the people of Sudan.
But just over two years later, in October 2021, the army tore up the deal and declared it was in full control of the country.
With the help of the RSF, the army again staged a coup and put the interim prime minister under house arrest. It then struck a power-sharing arrangement until a democratic government could be sorted out.
The plan was for the RSF, with an estimated fighting force of 100,000, to eventually integrate into the military. But that didn't happen.
And a power struggle between the two generals – the army's Adbel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF's Hemedti – would soon escalate into a full-scale civil war.
The start of Sudan's civil war
On April 15, 2023, fighting broke out between the RSF and Sudanese military in the capital, Khartoum. It's disputed who fired the first shots, but within days the RSF had gained control of the city.
The military then moved its headquarters to the coastal city of Port Sudan, where it's still based today, though it retook Khartoum in May 2025.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been accused of providing military and financial support to the RSF — a claim the UAE has denied.
Earlier this year, the Sudanese military government took a case to the International Court of Justice, alleging the UAE had been "complicit in the genocide" of the non-Arab Masalit ethnic group since the outbreak of the civil war.
The UAE denies giving support to the RSF and the case was dismissed in May this year, with the ICJ saying it had no jurisdiction over it.
Counting the 'painful' impacts of war
The number of people killed from fighting, famine and disease since the start of the civil war is greatly contested, with some estimates in excess of 150,000.
About 21 million people in Sudan are facing high levels of acute food insecurity and 375,000 more are on the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.
More than 12 million people are reported to have been displaced by the conflict, both internally and in neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia, Egypt and Chad, where up to 1.2 million people alone have reportedly fled.
Abdullah Ali grew up in Sudan and has lived in Sydney since 2019, working as a civil engineer.
He is now also a member of the Sudanese Australia Advocacy Network.
Mr Ali said that early last year his mother, siblings and their children fled their homes in the central Sudan state of Kordofan and made a long, dangerous journey to Egypt.
He said his elderly mother passed away late last year in Cairo, surrounded by family.
"Her last words were 'I don't want to die here, I want to die back in my home,'" Mr Ali said.
"My mum was 80 years old and, even at her very last hour, was thinking about home. It's painful — it's very hard to think about."
What's happening in Sudan now?
On October 26, the RSF seized control of el-Fasher, the capital of the Northern Darfur region, after laying siege to the city for 18 months.
The city was home to an estimated 900,000 people before the war, with the vast majority now displaced elsewhere.
Adbullah Ali said he was in contact with a friend inside el-Fasher during the siege.
"He was telling me that it was unbelievable," Mr Ali said.
"People started eating everything they could eat — that includes dead animals, leaves of trees, anything you could eat. That was two months ago."
Mr Ali said he hadn't heard from his friend since the RSF seized the city.
The Sudan Doctors Network says during the siege about 14,000 Sudanese people died as a result of bombing, famine and extrajudicial killings.
And now with the Sudanese Armed Forces defeated, those remaining in the city appear to be completely defenceless.
Reports of mass killings of non-Arab Sudanese have been widespread, with RSF soldiers posting videos to social media of what appear to be extrajudicial killings in mass graves.
The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab released analysis of satellite images of el-Fasher the day after the RSF took the city.
The images show clusters of objects consistent with the size of human bodies, surrounded by reddish colouration that could be pools of blood.
The Sudan Doctors Network has also reported that RSF soldiers were executing anyone found inside of the city's hospitals, turning them into what it called "human slaughterhouses".
The World Health Organization reported 460 people were massacred at the Saudi Maternity Hospital.
Images verified by the Associated Press appeared to show dozens of people massacred by the RSF inside the hospital.
Other satellite vision released in the past week shows what experts suspect are mass graves, with Yale releasing another report which documented "evidence of mass killing".
Experts say siege could become genocide
Bakry Elmedni, a Sudanese analyst and Associate Professor in public policy at Long Island University Brooklyn, said communication from al-Fasher was one of the major challenges.
"Nobody knows for sure what is happening there, but what we know is enough to say it's nothing less than crimes against humanity and it could be on its way to becoming a genocide," he said.
"I really think we need new language to describe this. I am speechless."
The capture of el-Fasher now gives the RSF control of the entire Darfur region.
Experts say it's not clear whether this could be the beginning of the RSF trying to establish a new country in Darfur or whether it will regroup and push further into central Sudan.
Mr Elmedni said the longer the civil war dragged on, the more likely the country splitting in two became.
"The longer we continue to have war, the more likely it's going to end up having two de facto states," he said.
"It doesn't mean two countries, but two de facto governments with different administrative systems."
Truce sparks hopes for peace
On Thursday, the RSF said it had agreed to a humanitarian truce brokered by the US, UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, it said it looked forward to addressing the dire humanitarian situation faced by the people of Sudan and that a ceasefire would soon follow.
The Sudanese Armed Forces is yet to respond.
Mr Elmedni said after multiple failed attempts to end the conflict, now was a pivotal time to make lasting peace, while the world was paying attention.
"I'm afraid that if we fail to get peace, we might be talking soon … about millions [of people dead] and no-one to even say how many of them are killed because the place is just going to be ignored," he said.
"Sudan's crisis is completely invisible."
