Four Million Sudanese Risk Return Home Despite Ongoing War
Khartoum, 23 April 2026
Approximately four million displaced Sudanese have voluntarily returned to their homes without security guarantees while conflict continues to rage across the country. The International Organization for Migration confirms this massive movement, driven by deteriorating conditions in refugee camps and host countries rather than genuine safety improvements. Many returnees face destroyed infrastructure, lack of basic services, and ongoing security threats. The UN warns these returns may become unsustainable without urgent investment in essential services and reconstruction, highlighting a desperate choice between dangerous homecoming and unbearable displacement conditions.
Mass Return Amid Deteriorating Refugee Conditions
The backdrop to this unprecedented return movement lies in the catastrophic displacement crisis that has unfolded since fighting erupted between Sudan’s rival militaries three years ago. As previously reported, 14 million people—equivalent to one in four Sudanese citizens—were forced from their homes, with over 4.4 million refugees crossing into neighbouring countries including Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan (https://kakuma.bytes.news/61181c4-Sudan-displacement-refugee-crisis/). The International Organization for Migration announced on 20 April 2026 that approximately four million people have voluntarily returned to their homes across Sudan, particularly concentrated in Khartoum and Al-Jazeera states [1][2]. However, these returns are largely driven by desperation rather than improved security conditions. Song Ah Lee, Deputy Director General of IOM for Management and Reform, explained that families are making ‘extremely arduous journeys’ to return home, with many believing security conditions have improved whilst others return because ‘life under displacement has become unbearable’ due to economic pressures, family reunification needs, or increasingly harsh living conditions in neighbouring countries [2].
Humanitarian Crisis Forces Dangerous Choices
The deteriorating conditions in refugee-hosting countries have become a primary driver forcing Sudanese to risk return journeys. In Chad alone, over 1.3 million Sudanese refugees face temperatures reaching 43°C, expected to exceed 50°C in coming months, according to Dermot Hegarty, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Chad [3]. Refugees in transit camps wait hours for merely 4 litres of water per person daily—far below the World Health Organization’s minimum standard of 15 litres—leading to disease outbreaks [3]. The humanitarian funding crisis has exacerbated these conditions, with American humanitarian funding for Chad plummeting from $338 million in 2024 to just $112 million in 2025 [3]. The World Food Programme has been forced to halve food rations, with some areas receiving only a quarter of standard allocations [3]. These harsh realities have made the dangerous prospect of returning to war-torn Sudan appear preferable to continued displacement for millions of families.
Infrastructure Collapse Awaits Returnees
Those who have made the journey back to Sudan face a landscape of destruction and collapsed services. Song Ah Lee described witnessing during her visit to Khartoum ‘large numbers of people returning to areas where homes and vital infrastructure—including water, health, and electricity facilities—have suffered severe damage’ [2]. Host communities across eastern and northern Sudan, including Kassala, Gedaref, Red Sea, Northern, and River Nile states, have borne an enormous burden whilst already facing economic difficulties and climate-related pressures, stretching available infrastructure ‘to nearly its maximum capacity’ [2]. Despite farmers returning to their fields, agricultural livelihoods and food production remain under serious threat in areas where irrigation networks and agricultural equipment have been damaged [2]. Matteo Garamello, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Africa, emphasised that the return of people is not a ‘security choice’ but rather a ‘human compulsion’ resulting from poor conditions in displacement camps, whilst the situation in Sudan remains catastrophic due to destruction and collapse of services [4].
Organised Return Efforts Amid Ongoing Conflict
Despite the dangerous conditions, some organised return initiatives are proceeding. The High Committee for Voluntary Return of Sudanese Refugees from Uganda announced on 22 April 2026 the seventh free flight from Entebbi Airport to Port Sudan, scheduled for Sunday 26 April 2026, provided entirely free of charge by Badr Airlines for those voluntarily returning to the country [5]. However, experts remain divided on whether military progress justifies these returns. Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation, considers the idea of complete military victory in Sudan ‘merely an illusion’, arguing based on 70 years of Sudanese history that civil wars in the country have never ended with one party defeating another, but rather through peace agreements and difficult negotiations [4]. The IOM has warned that returns may become unsustainable without urgent investment to restore basic services, rebuild infrastructure, and revive livelihoods, emphasising that opportunities for safe and sustainable return remain at serious risk [2].