Khartoum's slow recovery amid cautious return

Khartoum’s war damage remains visible even as some roads show cleared rubble and slowly returning traffic. Refugees and displaced residents consider returning, but official claims of normal life often conflict with conditions on the ground. Recovery varies sharply by area: wealthy eastern districts are largely deserted, while central areas around the ruined Arab Market and city centre show little activity. Some movement appears along Freedom Street, where shops selling electrical appliances and equipment have reopened. Several neighbourhoods remain mostly empty, with limited residents back and businesses reopening gradually. Electricity shortages leave many areas dark at night, while daytime activity concentrates on major roads such as Sixty Street, where banks, pharmacies, shops, restaurants, and fuel stations have reopened but surrounding residential zones remain quiet and unlit.

"Neighbourhoods and homes lie in ruins, yet signs of recovery are visible along the city's roads, with rubble cleared and traffic slowly returning. Despite these signs of normality, refugees and displaced residents, many of whom fled more than three years ago, are returning cautiously, as official statements about life returning to normal often clash with the realities on the ground."

"Wealthy districts, particularly in the east, remain largely deserted. This includes neighbourhoods from Garden City in the north, stretching through Manshiya, Riyadh, Taif, Maamoura, Arkawit, Mujahideen and other affluent districts in the south. In central Khartoum, silence hangs over the ruined Arab Market and city centre. The area was once home to most ministries, institutions, banks and the central gold market."

"Signs of life are scarce, except along Freedom Street, known for electrical appliances and equipment, where shops have reopened and shoppers have begun to return. Neighbourhoods such as Khartoum 1, 2, and 3, al-Amarat, al-Sahafa, and Yathrib remain largely empty, with only a limited number of residents back. Restaurants and shops are slowly reopening [Al Jazeera]"

"At night, these neighbourhoods fall into darkness due to the lack of electricity, while during the day, the heavy traffic along Sixty Street stands out. One of the largest roads in eastern Khartoum, it links the city's north with its south. Along the street, banks, pharmacies, shops, restaurants, including those serving Syrian cuisine, and fuel stations have reopened, yet the residential areas behind it remain quiet by day and shrouded in darkness at night."

Read at www.aljazeera.com