- Military coups -

Sudan gained independence in 1956 after a period of joint rule by Britain and Egypt.

It has a mainly Muslim population of 43.8 million, according to 2020 figures from the World Bank.

Arabic is the official language and Islamic sharia law was enforced in 1983 before being put on hold and then applied again under Bashir.

A career soldier who swept to power in a military coup backed by Islamists, Bashir ruled Sudan from June 1989 to April 2019.

He was elected president in 2010 in the country's first multi-party election since he took power, and was re-elected in 2015. The opposition boycotted both votes.

Demonstrations against food price hikes erupted several times in 2018 after the cost of bread tripled.

The protests continued for months before the army removed Bashir from power on April 11, 2019.

Military and protest leaders signed an accord on a three-year transition to civilian rule in July.

Bashir has since been convicted of graft and is now on trial over the 1989 coup that brought him to power.

On Monday, in what the information ministry called a "coup", armed forces detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and senior civilian leaders in the transitional government.

- South Sudan breaks away -

Sudan endured a first civil war from 1955 to 1972, and a second that raged from 1983 to 2005. Millions died in the conflicts.

In 2005, Khartoum signed a peace treaty with southern rebels, granting the south autonomy pending a referendum on independence in 2011.

South Sudan became an independent nation in July 2011, six months after voting by 99 percent to secede.

The split removed roughly a quarter of Sudan's territory. Before then it had been Africa's largest country.

In early 2012, relations with South Sudan deteriorated and their armies clashed in oil-rich border zones.

- Devastating Darfur -

In 2003, rebels in Sudan's vast arid western region of Darfur revolted against alleged marginalisation of minority ethnic groups by the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum.

Khartoum responded by unleashing the dreaded Janjaweed militia, blamed for atrocities including murder, rape, looting and burning villages.

The violence resulted in one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes.

The United Nations says about 300,000 people were killed and more than 2.5 million displaced, many still living in sprawling semi-permanent camps.

The International Criminal Court in 2009 and 2010 issued arrest warrants for Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur -- accusations he denies.

In August, Sudan and the ICC signed a cooperation deal, bringing Bashir one step closer to facing trial.

- Battered economy -

The 2011 secession of South Sudan hit the Sudanese economy badly as it lost around three-quarters of its oil reserves.

The country also suffered under a US economic embargo imposed since 1993 over its alleged backing of radical Islamist groups, including Osama bin Laden, who lived in the country for years in the 1990s.

The embargo was lifted in 2017, and in 2020 Sudan was removed from a US blacklist of alleged state sponsors of terror that had been deterring investors.

Sudan is pursuing an austerity policy in exchange for the cancellation of its debt by the International Monetary Fund. Inflation is nearing 400 percent and the currency has plunged against the dollar.

Sudan is also regularly affected by devastating floods.