Map 2. Sudan Approximate Territorial Control as of 31 August 2026, Political Geography Now. Circle size indicates the population size of the location, based on estimated population figures. 116
Towards August 2026, the situation regarding territorial control was marked by a divide between western and eastern Sudan.117 Of the country’s total 18 states, the RSF controlled the five Darfur states (North, South, East, West and Central Darfur), although with some local exceptions, as parts of North Darfur either remained under SAF control118 or were contested between the RSF and SAF, alongside parts of West Darfur.119 The SLM-AW maintained its area of control in the Jebel Marra mountains in the centre of Darfur in the common border area between North, South and Central Darfur.120
Moreover, the RSF controlled sizeable territories in the Kordofan region,121 including all of West Kordofan and parts of North Kordofan and South Kordofan. Some areas of western and southeastern South Kordofan were contested between the two main warring parties122 or under the control of SPLM-N,123 which held the Nuba mountains.124
In Blue Nile state, southern areas bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia were mapped as either contested125 or controlled by the RSF and its allied forces associated with the Taasis coalition.126 In the Northern state, since June 2025,127 the RSF has been in control of a small stretch of territory along Sudan’s border triangle with Libya and Egypt128 (the strategic El Uweinat area);129 control further extended into the northern edges of North Darfur.130
The SAF and their allied militias, meanwhile, controlled most of the territory of the 13 states outside Darfur, including the country’s capital Khartoum131 and the eastern, central and northern states,132 as well as large areas in the south and south-east.133 This was notably the result of the SAF’s military advances that led to their recapture of Wad Madani in Al Jazirah state (January 2025) and of Khartoum state in May 2025 and further allowed the SAF to retake territory from the RSF in White Nile, North and South Kordofan states.134 Following the offensive conducted July 2026, the SAF further expanded its control within North Kordofan.135
- 116
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.d.
- 117
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.d.; Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url; Al Jazeera, After three years of war, Sudan army and RSF locked in military impasse, 16 April 2026, url
- 118
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.a.; AA, Sudanese group accuses RSF of killings, abuses after entering town in West Darfur, 10 July 2026, url
- 119
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.a.; Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url
- 120
NL, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Country of Origin Information Report on Sudan, December 2025, url, p. 140; Sudans Post, Territorial Control Map – Sudan Conflict (as of June 21, 2026) [Map 1], 22 June 2026, url; Sudans Post, Territorial control in Sudan – October 2025 [Map 1], 12 October 2025, url
- 121
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.a.; Al Jazeera, After three years of war, Sudan army and RSF locked in military impasse, 16 April 2026, url
- 122
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.a.; Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url
- 123
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.a.; Sudans Post, Territorial Control Map – Sudan Conflict (as of June 21, 2026) [Map 1], 22 June 2026, url
- 124
NL, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Country of Origin Information Report on Sudan, December 2025, url, p. 140
- 125
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.a.; Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url
- 126
PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control, as of 31 August 2026, n.a.; Sudans Post, Territorial Control Map – Sudan Conflict (as of June 21, 2026) [Map 1], 22 June 2026, url
- 127
Al Jazeera, Sudan’s paramilitary RSF say they seized key zone bordering Egypt, Libya, 11 June 2025, url; Ayin Network, Fears and deals, Inside the Sudan-Egypt-Libya border triangle, 7 August 2025, url
- 128
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url; Sudans Post, Territorial Control Map – Sudan Conflict (as of June 21, 2026) [Map 1], 22 June 2026, url
- 129
Ayin Network, Fears and deals, Inside the Sudan-Egypt-Libya border triangle, 7 August 2025, url; Dabanga, SAF evacuates ‘strategic’ Sudan-Libya-Egypt border triangle following RSF takeover, 12 June 2025, url
- 130
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url; Sudans Post, Territorial Control Map – Sudan Conflict (as of June 21, 2026) [Map 1], 22 June 2026, url
- 131
AA, Sudanese group accuses RSF of killings, abuses after entering town in West Darfur, 10 July 2026, url
- 132
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url; Al Jazeera, After three years of war, Sudan army and RSF locked in military impasse, 16 April 2026, url
- 133
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Mapping the Armed Actors in the Sudan Conflict [Map], 7 July 2026, url; Sudans Post, Territorial Control Map – Sudan Conflict (as of June 21, 2026) [Map 1], 22 June 2026, url
- 134
Al Jazeera, After three years of war, Sudan army and RSF locked in military impasse, 16 April 2026, url
- 135
LWJ, Sudanese Armed Forces gains in civil war force strategic adjustment from paramilitia rival, 6 August 2026, url; Dabanga, Sudanese army claim capture of strategic North Kordofan towns, 26 July 2026, url