Skip to main content

← The Countries, One by One

Sudan: Sixth on the List, Split in Two, Brought to Israel, Then Broken by War

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED that Sudan was on the list General Wesley Clark described, that it was split in two in 2011, that it agreed to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 in a deal announced by the White House, and that it has been in a devastating civil war since April 2023. STRONG that Sudan's breakup served the aim written in the 1982 Yinon essay, and that the United States is now openly treating its government as illegitimate.

In one paragraph​

Sudan is the country on the list that was taken apart without an American invasion. The 1982 Yinon essay expected Sudan, with Libya, to "not continue to exist in [its] present form." Clark's memo named it sixth: "then Somalia and Sudan, and back to Iran." In 2011 the south broke away as a new country, backed, as economist Jeffrey Sachs puts it, by the United States "supporting rebels to break Sudan apart in 2011." In 2020 the White House removed Sudan from the terrorism list and announced that Sudan and Israel "agreed to the normalization of relations." Since 2023 Sudan has been destroyed by a civil war in which weapons have reached the paramilitary side through a network tied to an American contractor. In September 2026 the State Department declared neither side "a legitimate and constitutional government." A former U.S. official read that as "a policy of regime change in Sudan."

On the list​

  • 1982, Yinon: "If Egypt falls apart, countries like Libya, Sudan or even the more distant states will not continue to exist in their present form and will join the downfall and dissolution of Egypt." See Yinon: key passages.
  • 1993: the United States put Sudan on its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (Radio Tamazuj, October 23, 2020). In 1998 it bombed a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum.
  • Fall 2001, the memo: "starting with Iraq, then Syria and Lebanon, then Libya, then Somalia and Sudan, and back to Iran" (Democracy Now, March 2, 2007). Clark first described the list in 2003 (Al Jazeera, September 22, 2003).

2011: the split​

South Sudan voted to separate and became independent in July 2011 (Wikipedia summary, South Sudan). Sachs lists this among the U.S. wars on Clark's list: "Sudan (supporting rebels to break Sudan apart in 2011)" (as quoted by @amborin on X, November 10, 2025). Journalist Ben Norton goes further: "Sudan was divided in no small part thanks to the U.S. and Israel supporting South Sudan's separatist movement on ethno-religious lines, using religious sectarianism" (Geopolitical Economy Report, November 12, 2023).

Dividing a state along ethnic and religious lines is the method the Yinon essay laid out in 1982.

2020: brought into normalization with Israel​

On October 23, 2020, the White House announced that "following President Trump's decision to remove Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list," the United States and Israel would partner with Sudan, and Sudan and Israel "agreed to the normalization of relations" (Joint Statement of the United States, Sudan, and Israel, October 23, 2020). A country that had been on America's terrorism list for 27 years came off it in exchange for recognizing Israel.

2023 to 2026: civil war, and whose weapons​

In April 2023 Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) went to war (Wikipedia summary, Sudanese civil war). The United States sent forces into the region: President Biden notified Congress under the War Powers Resolution of the "Deployment of U.S. Military Forces to Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Sudan to assist with the Evacuation of U.S. Diplomats."

The weapons trail leads back toward the West and its partners:

  • A United Nations report found that "a fleet of Boeing 727s tied to a former US military contractor transported weapons, drones, and mercenaries to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces" (Reuters investigation, July 15, 2026).
  • Sudan's government accuses the United Arab Emirates of arming the RSF; "UN experts and independent panels have cited credible evidence of this support." The UAE denies it. One analyst described the cycle: "Sudan's gold gets smuggled to the Gulf. The Gulf sends weapons back to the RSF through Chad and Libya. UN Panel of Experts documented this. US Treasury sanctions confirmed it" (Sudan Desk on X).

On January 7, 2025, the U.S. declared that the RSF had committed genocide (AP, January 7, 2025). In September 2026 the Washington Post reported a "Trove of documents reveals alleged chemical weapons stockpile in Sudan" (Washington Post, September 5, 2026), and the U.S. demanded "full and comprehensive inspections of Sudan arms programmes." A weapons-of-mass-destruction charge, followed by demands for inspections, is how the Iraq war began.

September 2026: "a policy of regime change in Sudan"​

In September 2026 the State Department reportedly said that neither the Sudanese army nor the RSF "represent[s] a legitimate and constitutional government" (Al Mayadeen via @ME_Observer_ on X, September 22, 2026). Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. official on Sudan, wrote: "The United States declares a policy of regime change in Sudan. There is no other way to read this statement" (Cameron Hudson on X, September 22, 2026). Sudan rejected the remarks (Reuters, September 23, 2026).

Twenty-five years after the memo, the United States has declared the government of the sixth country on the list illegitimate, in the same month it is at war with the seventh. See Iran.

Status: Cameron Hudson is alive. Jeffrey Sachs is alive. Ben Norton is alive. Wesley Clark is alive. Nothing on this page states that any living person committed a crime.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t39__v457.md through t39__v468.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

Last updated on