The medal was established in November 1933 by the Governor-General of the Sudan, it superseding the Khedive's Sudan Medal (1910). It was awarded on the recommendation of the Commandant of the Sudan Defence Force (SDF)[1] to locally recruited personnel of the SDF, police and other approved Sudanese who served in minor operations classed by the Governor-General as of sufficient importance to warrant the grant of the medal.[2][3]