Sudan11 January, 20262 min read
Sudanese Government Returns to Khartoum After RSF Drove It Out in 2023
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6 West Asian3 Other1 Asian2 Other source typesThis article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Government returned to Khartoum after nearly three years operating from wartime Port Sudan. Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces overran Khartoum in April 2023, forcing the government to flee.
12 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Sudan’s Army Denies Drone Strike That Killed 153 at Amiet Common Market in Abyei →
Government returns to Khartoum
Sudan’s government has formally returned to Khartoum after nearly three years of operating from Port Sudan following the outbreak of war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023. Officials, including Prime Minister Kamil/Kamel Idris, described the move as a turning point and dubbed the administration the Government of Hope, pledging to rebuild services and institutions as the capital begins to tentatively re-open after the army retook the city last March. Sources report the return as gradual, with cabinet meetings already held in Khartoum and public life restarting in some areas as security allows.
“Sudan’s government formally returned to the capital Khartoum on Sunday for the first time since fighting began with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, Prime Minister Kamel Idris said.”
Government return to Khartoum
The return follows an exodus of central government bodies to Port Sudan in April 2023 amid fierce fighting that caused widescale damage to institutions and services. Reports say the Sovereign Council, the Council of Ministers and several ministries were moved as security deteriorated.
The army later declared Khartoum State cleared of RSF forces in May 2025, enabling a cautious restoration of public life. International and local reporting stresses the scale of destruction and displacement: tens of thousands killed, millions displaced, and government buildings and public services left in ruins.
Khartoum and Darfur crisis
Despite reports of relative calm in parts of Khartoum, humanitarian and security challenges remain acute. UN teams found el-Fasher in North Darfur largely deserted and described it as a "crime scene." Survivors report ethnically motivated killings and mass detentions.
“UN teams calling el-Fasher in North Darfur a ‘crime scene’ found the city largely deserted after gaining access for the first time since an October RSF takeover.”
The RSF has continued drone strikes targeting infrastructure. Large numbers have returned to Khartoum since the army retook the city, but returnees frequently encountered destroyed homes and barely functioning services. Returnees also found makeshift graves that authorities are now exhuming, and the full death toll in the capital remains unknown.
Territorial control reporting
The geography of control and the contested nature of claims remain central to reporting, with outlets noting the RSF's advances in Darfur and Kordofan and the SAF's counterclaims of battlefield successes that are sometimes unverified. Al Jazeera reproduces SAF claims that air and ground operations destroyed about 240 combat vehicles, killed hundreds of RSF fighters and drove RSF forces from wide areas, but it notes the RSF did not immediately respond and the claims could not be independently verified. Middle East Eye highlights allegations of RSF backing by foreign states and accuses the RSF of controlling five Darfur states, underscoring divergent emphases between investigative and rights-oriented reporting and state-focused or reconstruction narratives.