The national emblem of Sudan was adopted in 1969. It shows a secretarybird bearing a shield from the time of Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi who briefly ruled Sudan in the 19th century.

Two scrolls are placed on the arms; the upper one displays the national motto, An-nasr lana النصر لنا ("Victory is ours"), and the lower one displays the title of the state, جمهورية السودان Jumhuriyat as-Sudan ("Republic of the Sudan").

The coat of arms is also the Presidential seal and is found in gold on the flag of the President of Sudan and on the vehicles carrying the President and at his residence.

The secretarybird was chosen as a distinctively Sudanese and indigenous variant of the "Eagle of Saladin" and "Hawk of Quraysh" seen in the emblems of some Arab states, and associated with Arab nationalism (see coat of arms of Egypt, etc.).

The former state emblem was in use from independence in 1956 to 1970, when the current emblem was adopted. It consisted of a rhinoceros enclosed by two palm-trees and olive branches, with the name of the state, جمهورية السودان Jumhuriyat as-Sudan ("Republic of Sudan"), displayed below.

Sudan (ⁱ/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان‎, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان‎, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.

The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.