After more than a year and a half in Cairo, Um Mohamed returned to her Khartoum home to find only rubble, with regular water and electricity cuts amid deadly epidemics. Both Sudanese and Egyptian governments have promoted voluntary returns since March, but only one million of five million displaced have come back, prioritizing the middle class.
Khartoum has seen a limited return of residents following the military's takeover in March, as part of a 'voluntary return' campaign launched by the Sudanese government in coordination with Egypt. However, returnees like Um Mohamed faced harsh realities: destroyed homes, scarce basic services, and epidemics like cholera and malaria claiming dozens of lives weekly. Um Mohamed said: 'We're surviving on the little aid we receive'.
Initially, Egypt allowed Sudanese entry leniently in April 2023, but tightened measures in May and June, pushing many into irregular routes. The fall of Wad Madani in December 2023 intensified displacement, while Egypt introduced a new law by late 2024 criminalizing irregular entry. Deportations rose to 18,750 people in 2024, per a joint report.
Reconstruction efforts in Khartoum focus on middle-class areas like Karari and Old Omdurman, where public sector employees and professionals return. Peripheral regions, such as Jebel Awliya, suffer health system collapse and food shortages. A Khartoum governor's office official stated: 'Reconstruction relies on returnees to guide the process'.
The campaign aims to redraw Khartoum politically, centering the middle class as partners in governance, while demolishing informal settlements and imposing fees on migrants. Observers like Emam al-Hilu see it as reverting Sudan to 'pre-revolution dictatorship'. While Egypt retains Sudanese capital, the poor are pushed to the margins once more.
