Returnees feel the old need for investment as houses, water supplies, health provisions, electricity are ‘heavily damaged’.
Published on 21 April 2026
According to the United Nations, about 4 million people have voluntarily returned to their places of origin in Sudan in hopes of rebuilding their lives, but they still face a “struggle for survival”.
The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said Tuesday that although the war in Sudan continues, 3.99 million returnees have been counted, mainly concentrated in Khartoum and the agricultural state of Al-Jazeera southeast of the capital.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
However, the agency warned that these people are returning in search of an urgent need for investment to rebuild destroyed communities and infrastructure.
“Many people are returning because they believe safety has improved,” said Sung Ah Lee of the IOM. “Others are returning because life in displacement has become unbearable.”
However, he warned, their return would prove unsustainable without “immediate investment to restore essential services and rebuild infrastructure and revive livelihoods”.
Thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict began in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to IOM, the war displaced approximately 12 million people internally as they fled Gezira, Khartoum and parts of Sennar and Kordofan. More than four million people fled to neighboring countries.
Farmers are now returning to their fields to find that irrigation systems and equipment have been destroyed. Lee said such conditions leave food production at its peak against a broader backdrop of food insecurity.
Millions of people in Sudan are surviving on just one meal a day, according to NGOs, who warn that three years of conflict marked by violence, displacement and siege tactics have “systematically destroyed Sudan’s food system”.
Lee said IOM has been able to reach four million people with humanitarian assistance in Sudan by 2023, but “the scale of the needs is enormous”, with approximately nine million people still internally displaced.
IOM is seeking $170m for its 2026 Sudan crisis response plan, but the agency said the plan remained “underfunded” by $97.2m.
