Sudan PM vows to rebuild Khartoum on first visit to capital

KHARTOUM

Sudan's Prime Minister Kamil Idris on July 19 pledged to rebuild Khartoum, ravaged by more than two years of war, as he made his first visit to the capital since assuming office in May.

Touring Khartoum's destroyed infrastructure, the new premier outlined mass repair projects in anticipation of the return of at least some of the over 3.5 million people who fled the violence.

"Khartoum will return as a proud national capital," Idris said, according to Sudan's state news agency.

Sudan's army chief and de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who appointed Idris, landed on July 19 at Khartoum's airport, recaptured by the army in March after nearly two years of occupation by their rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF began in the heart of the capital in April 2023, quickly tearing the city apart.

Tens of thousands are estimated to have been killed in the once-bustling capital, and reconstruction is expected to be a herculean feat, with the government putting the cost at $700 billion nationwide, with Khartoum alone accounting for around half of that.

The army-aligned government, which moved to Port Sudan on the Red Sea early in the war and still operates from there, has begun to plan the return of ministries to Khartoum even as fighting rages on in other parts of the country.

Authorities have begun operations to properly bury the bodies still missing around the city, clear thousands of unexploded ordinance and resume bureaucratic services.

On a visit to Sudan's largest oil refinery, the Al-Jaili plant just north of Khartoum, Idris promised that "national institutions will come back even better than they were before."