A few days ago, a colleague stopped by my desk and said, “Congratulations.” Confused, I asked, “For what?”
“The return of Sudan,” he replied. I shook my head and said, “No, don’t congratulate us yet. We’re still far from that.”
With relative safety emerging in parts of Sudan in recent weeks, news has begun to circulate about the gradual return of life to the country, particularly in Khartoum. This has included the reopening of hotels, schools and universities, hospitals, organisations and factories, as well as theme parks, shops, and restaurants. In parallel, public infrastructure such as roads and power plants has slowly been restored through both government-led and community-driven initiatives. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Kamil Idris officially announced the return of the government to the capital after more than two years of operating from Port Sudan.
In late 2024, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) recaptured several major cities and states such as Khartoum and Al Gezira from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), restoring a sense of safety that has prompted many Sudanese to return to their homes, both from within the country and abroad. Just this week, the SAF has claimed it broke the RSF’s siege of Dilling in South Kordofan.
According to UN agencies, over 1.3 million displaced Sudanese people, including one million who were internally displaced and over 300,000 refugees, have returned home, in July 2025. Early this month, IOM announced that over 3 million have returned to Sudan, mostly to Khartoum and Al Gezira. More displaced Sudanese are expected to return to Sudan, especially once Khartoum International Airport (KIA) reopens.
However, many are returning to ruines. Their returning to homes that have been destroyed or ransacked, and to communities where resources have been severely depleted by more than two years of war. Basic services such as water and electricity are slowly being restored, but healthcare remains a major concern, with most hospitals damaged or destroyed. According to government officials, 80% of Khartoum’s electricity has been resorted. Therefore, returning to Sudan involves significant risk, and considerable effort and challenges.
"والله تبهدلنا وانذلينا وبقينا راجعين"..
— AJ+ عربي (@ajplusarabi) January 27, 2026
عودة تدريجية للحياة في الخرطوم، مع تحسّن الخدمات وعودة الأسواق، وسط مبادرات شعبية رغم تحديات الحرب وآثارها. pic.twitter.com/YBk7bKka1i
Those who have returned, in addition to those who never left, have been vital to Sudan’s, especially Khartoum’s rehabilitation, with community-led initiatives such as Green Sudan, cleaning, restoring and planting trees and plants to the country’s public infrastructure. These community-driven initiatives are led by Sudan’s youth, both young men and women, working tirelessly to bring back life and normalcy to their homeland. Their efforts are also community-funded just like with the community kitchens providing meals to hunger-stricken communities. Some who have found themselves unemployed due to the war, found opportunities for business where they can be hired by people who fled their homes to check on their property, and refurbish prior to their return. Some initiatives have begun more than a year ago as soon as the SAF began recapturing major states in 2024, some have begun just recently as more displaced people returned home. Some young men and women have begun to document their return and rehabilitation initiatives on YouTube such as Ahmed Abdalgader, Alzubair Fathi and Missa Ali. It is important to note that after losing everything, returning to rebuild is anything but simple; it is costly — emotionally, financially, and in every sense of the word.
مُبادرةٌ لإعَـادَة تأهيل ونظافة مسجد جامعة السُّودان pic.twitter.com/WVXoMoZSWz
— Sudan Plus سودان بلس (@SudanPlusNews) January 28, 2026
However, while safety and security, as well as people, return to some parts of Sudan, the war is far from over. In April 2026, Sudan will mark three years of war, and still continues to be the world’s largest displacement crisis and one of its worst humanitarian crises. Darfur and some parts of Kordofan still remain under the RSF’s violent siege and attack. As long as the RSF still exists, there will be no peace in Sudan, and it will remain a threat to life in Sudan and the Sudanese people. Attacking one village, city and state after the other, the RSF has turned against all of Sudan since 2023. Regardless of the meddling of foreign powers in the ongoing war, Sudan’s common enemy remains the RSF, which will continue to threaten all of the country as long as it exists, especially under the leadership of the power-hungry Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo Musa (Hemedti). Although the SAF is successfully reclaiming major parts of Sudan, the RSF remains a large militia, continuing its campaign of violence, ethnic cleansing, rape, and other atrocities against civilians, including women and children, in Darfur and neighbouring regions, and continuing to kidnap and forcibly recruiting people, including children, from across Sudan and neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and Chad, grooming them to join its ranks.
Yes, millions have returned to their homes, most of them internally displaced. Some expatriates such as Syrians, South Sudanese, and Ethiopians have also returned to Sudan. However, many others have yet to return — if they return at all. In conversations with those who fled Sudan entirely due to the war, the prospect of going back remains uncertain or highly unlikely. This hesitation is largely driven by the continued presence of the RSF and fears that violence could erupt again at any moment.
In recent months, the RSF has released videos on social media threatening to return to Khartoum and other states and cities recaptured by the SAF. For millions who have fled, the prospect of being forced to flee once more — after slowly beginning to rebuild their lives elsewhere, having already lost everything — is a nightmare they are unwilling to relive. For many, a return is unthinkable unless lasting security is guaranteed. And for some, the decision not to return at all is entirely understandable.
Sudan is truly war-torn, torn into two starkly different realities. As major parts of the country gradually return to a sense of normalcy and people begin rebuilding their homes and neighbourhoods, parts of Darfur and Kordofan remain under severe threat. There, the RSF continues its campaign of violence, ethnic cleansing, rape, and other atrocities against civilians, including women and children.
Of the 18 states, the RSF controls all five states in the western Darfur region, except for parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The SAF holds most areas of the remaining 13 states across the country, including Khartoum.
Since the RSF intensified its siege and attacks on Al Fasher and other cities in the Darfur region in October 2025 — drawing renewed international attention to the war in Sudan — at least 60,000 people have been killed, and more than 20,000 have fled to Tawila in North Darfur and Dilling in South Darfur, which is now home to over 88,000 displaced people.
As millions return to their homes across Sudan, not everyone has that privilege. Thousands are still fleeing, and we must not forget or ignore the suffering of those in western and central Sudan. We should continue to campaign for the injustice and insecurity they’re experiencing. The possibility of the RSF returning, recapturing Khartoum and other major cities, and unleashing chaos once again cannot be dismissed. If this war has taught us anything, it is that anything can happen at any time. What unfolded was never expected, at least not on this scale of destruction and duration. Although safety and security remains a serious concern, for millions of displaced Sudanese, there is only one home and that is Sudan. We must return to rebuild our homeland, as we have always done, because no one else will. As we look ahead and begin to rebuild Sudan, we must move forward — but with caution. The hope is that we rebuild differently: a better, greater Sudan, without repeating history or falling back into a vicious cycle of conflict.
Ola Diab is the new founder and editor of 500 Words Magazine, and the deputy editor of Marhaba Information Guide, Qatar’s premier information guide. Based in Qatar, the Sudanese journalist graduated from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and has since built a successful career in the print and digital media industry in Qatar. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) @therealoladiab or on LinkedIn.
