Volunteers have begun clearing the streets of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, where houses are pockmarked with bullet holes, fallen trees are blocking roads and power lines are broken.
It is the city’s first reconstruction effort since war began over two years ago between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has left the capital battered.
The reconstruction is led by government agencies and youth-led volunteer groups who have started to repair hospitals, schools and water and power networks.
The UN estimates the rehabilitation of the capital’s essential facilities to cost around $350 million, while the full rebuilding of Khartoum “will take years:
The UN expects up to two million people to make their way back to Khartoum by the end of the year.
“We are working to restore the state’s infrastructure,” volunteer Mostafa Awad said.
Unexploded ordnance
The UN warns Khartoum is “heavily contaminated by unexploded ordnance”, and this month said landmines have been discovered across the capital.
Sudan’s war has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and plunged the nation into the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis.
