War-displaced Sudanese return to shattered Khartoum eager to rebuild lives and homes

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) – All that remains of Afaf al-Tayeb’s home in Sudan’s Khartoum province is a charred, windowless structure with peeling paint – yet in June, she eagerly returned, feeling safe again for the first time since the Sudanese army said it retook the capital from the rival Rapid Support Forces.

Al-Tayeb had been displaced with her son Mohamed al-Khedr and their family at least four times since the civil war in the North African nation broke out over two years ago. They were displaced in different areas in Khartoum, yet nothing has ever felt as comforting as their house in the Al-Qawz district of Khartoum City.

She misses the photographs of her parents and late husband which were lost when her home was damaged by fire in March, along with all her other possessions. The loss of her home left her in tears and deep sorrow, she told The Associated Press.

The family was first displaced to the Hilaliya area, in Gezira province, taking nothing but the clothes they were wearing, until the RSF made advances in the province and forced them to return to Al-Qawz.

Al-Tayeb said RSF fighters then expelled her and her family, and they had to flee to east Khartoum onto Shendi and then Om Durman city.

“They looked very strange – indescribable – and their appearance was frightening,” she said of the RSF fighters who raided her home.

Al-Tayeb and her son are among roughly 1.2 million people who returned to Sudan between December 2024 and May this year, according to the latest estimates by the International Organization for Migration.

The U.N.’s refugee agency says more than 12 million people have been forcibly displaced since the current conflict began in April 2023, with 3.2 million Sudanese seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, pushed many to the brink of famine, and caused several disease outbreaks.

Khartoum was the epicenter of fighting at the start of the war, but the army said it had recaptured the capital earlier this year, including important landmarks such as the airport and ministerial buildings. Army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan returned to the capital in March for the first time since the war began when his military-led government had fled Khartoum for the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.

Mohanad Elbalal, cofounder of Khartoum Aid Kitchen, said that in areas recaptured by the military in Khartoum province people are returning to find their homes destroyed, neighborhoods shattered, often with no electricity and scarce food, water and services, but they’re returning to rebuild their homes.

In Khartoum City, electric substations have been destroyed and cables have been torn from the ground.

“In some areas in the Khartoum locality, there’s been a complete dismantling of the infrastructure,” Elbalal told AP. “Hospitals have even had their beds shipped out and stolen, along with mattresses.”

Of the more than 60 electricity and water facilities that have been partially or fully damaged as a result of the conflict, 16 served Khartoum, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data monitoring organization.

Altyeb Saad, spokesperson for the Khartoum province government, said 77 power transfer stations across the province have been looted and destroyed along with generators that distribute electricity to residential areas.

“Khartoum took serious steps towards repairment despite this destruction to rebuild the province,” he said, adding that the first phase of rebuilding is nearing completion. The work has focused on removing corpses, clearing unexploded ordnance and other war remnants, opening blocked roads and sanitizing neighborhoods to prevent disease outbreaks.

Khartoum officials are now focusing on restoring basic services, including electricity, water pumps, pavements, sidewalks, and solar panels. Saad said electricity is expected to return soon to the districts of Bahri, East Nile, and Khartoum.

Sudanese officials estimate that reconstruction of Khartoum will cost billions of dollars. Kholood Khair, founding director of Confluence Advisory, said the capital is likely to face another attack with the ongoing war and that would discourage international donors, who she noted would struggle to find a single trusted governing partner if they chose to help rebuild Khartoum.

When Al-Tayeb returned to her damaged and empty home, even the gold that she had buried underneath the floors of her house had been stolen. With the RSF gone from their neighborhood, the family still struggles due to the lack of water, electricity and medical care, relying on costly drinking water and solar panels for power.

“There’s no services at all in Al-Qawz. Why did they liberate Khartoum if we’re left for months without basic services or at least make some of it available or provide some help?” she asked.

Her neighbor, Nasser al-Assad, has been displaced five times since the war began but returned to his home on July 26 to find it partially destroyed by shelling. He and his family are struggling to secure basic necessities.

Khartoum hasn’t invested in its rehabilitation and community members worked together to rewire electricity, install solar panels and connect taps to wells in some areas, Khair said.

AP footage this month showed young men in Khartoum taking it upon themselves to clean their neighborhoods. One man was seen clearing the entrance of the Al-Qawz social and sports club, while others swept away charred tree branches, trash and piles of ash.

Elbalal said a lack of essential infrastructure makes it difficult for people to find jobs, so they are heavily dependent on charity kitchens for food.

“It’s expensive for most people but at the moment most are spending the majority of their income on food because before that wasn’t even possible,” he said. “But they’re not getting the nutritional balance that they need. With the (charity) kitchens and the food they’re able to buy, the food situation is manageable.”

At the height of the conflict, Khartoum Aid Kitchen’s branches across the province served around 4,000 people a day. While that figure is down by half, many still need the kitchens to survive.

Khair said that while returnees to Khartoum are relieved their areas are free of the RSF, they still face insecurity. Acts of robbery, ethnic profiling and illegal occupation of homes continue in the absence of proper civil order and the rule of law.

“The lack of services and increased militarization … are the perfect recipe for organized crime to take root,” she added.