Two years ago, Sudan was thrown into disarray when its army and a powerful paramilitary group began a vicious struggle for power.

The war, which continues to this day, has claimed more than 150,000 lives. And in what the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, about 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

There is evidence of genocide in the western region of Darfur, where residents say they have been targeted by fighters based on their ethnicity.

What are the Rapid Support Forces?

The RSF was formed in 2013 and has its origins in the notorious Janjaweed militia that brutally fought rebels in Darfur, where they were accused of ethnic cleansing against the region’s non-Arabic population.

Why is the military in charge of Sudan?

The civil war is the latest episode in bouts of tension that followed the 2019 ousting of long-serving President Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a coup in 1989.

There were huge street protests calling for an end to his near-three decade rule and the army mounted a coup to get rid of him.

Attention is now on the army’s offensive on central Khartoum, the area that includes most of the government ministries and financial institutions. Winning back the presidential palace is a symbolic victory - because the palace has great historic and political significance.