First passenger flight lands at Khartoum airport nearly three years into war: govt

Sudan

Khartoum –  A passenger flight landed at Khartoum International Airport on Sunday for the first time since the war between Sudan’s army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in April 2023, Sudanese authorities said.

The arrival follows the army‑backed government’s announcement that it would fully return to the capital, nearly three years after relocating to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.In a statement, the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority said a flight operated by its national carrier Sudan Airways arrived from Port Sudan, “carrying passengers and marking the resumption of airport operations after a period of suspension due to the war”.Prime Minister Kamil Idris was aboard the flight, the authority said, without specifying how many passengers were on board.

Early in the war, fighting heavily damaged the airport, which was one of the last holdout posts of the paramilitary force when an army offensive pressed through Khartoum last year.

The airport has since been renovated, but has been hit by drone strikes, including in October on the eve of its planned reopening.

A flight operated by private carrier Badr Airlines in October carried government officials to Khartoum Airport, where army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has also landed in recent months.

Since retaking the city, army‑backed authorities have been gradually returning to Khartoum.

According to the United Nations, around 1.4 million people had returned to the capital by November, many finding their homes destroyed, basic services barely functioning and neighbourhoods pockmarked by makeshift graves that authorities are now working to exhume.

The city has witnessed relative calm, though the RSF has carried out occasional drone strikes, particularly on infrastructure.

The UN estimates that rehabilitating essential infrastructure will require about $350 million.

Fighting between the army and the RSF continues elsewhere. South of Khartoum, the RSF has pushed through the Kordofan region, after dislodging the army from its last stronghold in Darfur last year.

The conflict has left 11 million people displaced internally and across borders, and created the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.

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Source: AFP

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