The medal was awarded for minor operations in the Sudan to members of the Egyptian Army, including Sudanese battalions.

[1] While no complete British Army unit took part in any qualifying campaign, a 48 strong British Army Maxim Gun detachment drawn from a number of different regiments received the Durfur 1916 clasp, while the medal without clasp was awarded to a camel corps company manned by the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, in reserve during this campaign.

[2] A number of members of the Royal Flying Corps received the medal with the Durfur 1916 and Fasher clasps, while about thirty members of the Royal Air Force received the Garjak Nuer clasp.

The reverse depicts a lion standing on a plinth bearing the word SUDAN with, behind, the sun rising above the flowing River Nile.

[3]The medal hangs from a straight bar suspension, the 32 millimetre wide watered ribbon being black with thin red and green stripes on each side.The medal was issued unnamed, except for a few to British recipients that were named in small impressed capitals.