After more than two years of brutal conflict, residents of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, are beginning to return home but they are coming back to a city in ruins. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which erupted in April 2023, turned Khartoum into the epicenter of fighting. The once-bustling capital now bears the scars of destruction: burned homes, looted neighborhoods, and collapsed infrastructure.
For Afaf al Tayeb, who returned to her home in the Al-Qawz district in June, the homecoming was bittersweet. “We lost precious belongings that we had for a long time. The gold, the new food mixers, even our clothes that we had hidden they took everything. They left us only with the clothes on our backs. We wash them, wear them again, and repeat,” she said. Her son, Mohamed al-Khedr, pointed to their family home, partially destroyed.
“After the liberation we came to find the house as you see it a shell had hit it and burnt everything,” he explained. Electricity and water remain among the biggest challenges. “The destruction has completely affected Khartoum’s power infrastructure,” said Altayeb Saad al-Din, spokesperson for Khartoum province. “More than seven or eight major substations are completely damaged or looted, along with dozens of neighborhood transformers.”
Despite the devastation, the government says people are steadily coming back after the army announced it had regained control of Khartoum earlier this year. The United Nations estimates that as many as 2 million people may return to the city by the end of 2025, even though basic services remain fragile. Across Sudan, the humanitarian toll is staggering. More than 12 million people have been displaced nationwide, while at least 40,000 lives have been lost since the conflict began. The cost of rebuilding Khartoum alone is expected to run into billions of dollars, with reconstruction of power, health facilities, schools, and housing likely to take years. Still, many residents are determined to rebuild their lives, clinging to hope in the ashes of war.
