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Hundreds of people displaced by fighting in Sudan gathered at the central train station in Cairo on Monday to begin a free journey home.
The Egyptian government is funding train rides to Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, which was recently recaptured by the Sudanese Armed Forces from its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Sudan has been mired in civil war since April 2023 with the power struggle between the army and the RSF causing an almost nationwide humanitarian crisis.
Over 40,000 people have been killed and the war has caused one of the world’s largest displacement emergencies.
Egypt hosts the largest number of Sudanese refugees from the war with over 1.5 million people who fled north across the border.
Over 7 million have been displaced internally as the war engulfed much of the country.
The RSF took control of Khartoum at the start of the fighting in 2023 and held the capital until the government declared its full recapture on 20 May.
Khartoum was largely destroyed, including the presidential palace and the airport, but is experiencing a slow rebirth as residents return and markets reopen.
Electricity and basic services are not fully operational around the city.
The journey from Cairo to Khartoum is about 2,080 kilometres and will include a train ride of about 12 hours to the southern Egyptian city of Aswan, where riders will change to ferries and buses to cross into Sudan.
People packed their lives in small suitcases as they as they filled the train Monday.
Some cried with “overwhelming emotions” including sadness and joy about leaving Egypt and returning home, said Sudanese journalist Asem al-Taieb, one of the train travellers.
“I am happy because I am finally going back to my family and my children,” said Awatef al Hassan, originally from Omdurman, who is returning with her daughter.
Humanitarian crisis
The head of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, has previously said that the conflict in Sudan has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations and other aid agencies had previously been using the figure of 20,000 confirmed deaths, but some officials say the death toll could be as high as 150,000.
Millions have been forced from their homes and famine is sweeping parts of the country.
Years of instability
Sudan, a nation in northeastern Africa, has been unstable since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
A short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when army chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and head of the RSF, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, teamed up to lead a military coup in 2021.
But the military outfits they command started fighting each other in 2023 as each struggled to seize power.
Since the war began, both the military and the RSF have faced allegations of human rights abuses, with both sides denying the claims.
Additional sources • AP
