According to the United Nations, nearly 4 million people have voluntarily returned to their places of origin in Sudan in the hope of rebuilding their lives, despite the ongoing war. The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Tuesday that 3.99 million returnees are mainly concentrated in Khartoum and the agricultural state of Al-Jazirah, southeast of the capital.

However, the agency warned that these people are returning to find destroyed communities and an urgent need for investment to rebuild basic infrastructure. Sung Ah Lee of the IOM stated, "Many are returning because they believe security has improved. Others are returning because life in displacement has become unbearable." She also cautioned that their return would prove unsustainable without "urgent investment to restore essential services and rebuild infrastructure and revive livelihoods."

The conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since it erupted in April 2023. The war internally displaced nearly 12 million people as they fled areas like Gezira, Khartoum, and parts of Sennar and Kordofan, according to the IOM. More than four million fled to neighboring countries.

Farmers are now returning to their fields to find that irrigation systems and equipment have been destroyed. Lee noted that such conditions leave food production at a breaking point against a wider backdrop of food insecurity. NGOs report that millions of people in Sudan are surviving on just one meal a day, warning that three years of conflict marked by violence, displacement, and siege tactics have "systematically eroded Sudan's food system."

Lee said the IOM has been able to reach four million people in Sudan with humanitarian aid since 2023, but "the scale of needs remains immense," with nearly nine million people still internally displaced. The IOM is seeking $170 million for its 2026 Sudan crisis response plan, but the agency stated that plan remains "underfunded" by $97.2 million.

Source: www.aljazeera.com