IOM resumes operations in Khartoum, over 2 million return amidst Sudan war
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA)- The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has just relocated its office to Khartoum, central Sudan, has stressed that the area is now “witnessing a sharp increase in returns”.
The IOM has reopened its office in Khartoum to expand humanitarian and recovery operations in the capital, becoming the first UN agency to re-establish a presence in the city since conflict erupted in April 2023.
The organisation said in a statement it issued on Tuesday that “IOM’s return comes at a critical time, as more than two million people have returned to areas perceived to be safer”.
The release stressed that “in the capital alone, the number of returnees is expected to reach 2.1 million this year”, compared to an estimated five million who were displaced from the city at the height of the fighting.
“Movement back to urban areas is accelerating, yet conditions remain volatile,” IOM Director General Amy Pope was quoted by the release as saying.
“Families are attempting to rebuild in communities already strained by years of displacement and economic hardship, stretching social support networks and local capacities to the limit.”
The release said the return trend was not limited to the capital. Between November 2024 and July 2025, nearly two million people returned across 1,611 locations in Aj Jezirah, Khartoum, Sinnar, Blue Nile, White Nile, River Nile, and West Darfur. Three in four of these returnees came from locations within Sudan.
It said many a family arrived to find homes that were damaged or uninhabitable. Electricity and clean water remain scarce. Health care is limited and the risk of cholera persists. Unexploded ordnance continues to endanger civilians in residential areas, near schools, and along access roads.
“IOM’s return to Khartoum will support the country through this complex recovery phase. The office will function as an inter-agency hub, enabling the UN and humanitarian partners to scale up life-saving assistance and early recovery support in urban areas where needs are most concentrated,” the release said.
According to the organization, in the first half of 2025 alone, IOM reached more than 600,000 people in Sudan with humanitarian assistance, including access to clean water, protection services, health care, and mental health and psychosocial support.
“Despite these efforts, the scale of needs continues to outpace available funding,” the organization lamented.
It vowed to work closely with authorities and partners to ensure that communities of return have access to essential services.
Support will target both returnees and residents who never left, recognizing that recovery requires rebuilding services for entire communities.
It has however cautioned that despite the returns, the conflict is far from over. Violence in Kordofan and Darfur, including the siege of El Fasher now in its second year, has brought catastrophic consequences for civilians and has created famine conditions for many unable to flee.
The agency stressed that in Darfur, reaching people in need remains extremely difficult due to insecurity, restricted access, and limited funding.
“These constraints hinder the ability of humanitarian organizations, including IOM, to respond at the required scale, and they increase the risk that fragile recovery gains will be lost.”
Sudan’s war has upended lives on an extraordinary scale. More than 14.2 million people have been displaced since the conflict escalated, with 10 million uprooted inside the country and 4.2 million across borders.
The agency cautioned that families returning to Khartoum faced a mounting task of rebuilding their lives and livelihoods amid damaged homes and limited access to basic services.
“To accelerate humanitarian and recovery efforts, IOM is urgently appealing for USD 29 million in flexible funding to sustain humanitarian efforts in Khartoum alone.
IOM also urges all parties to facilitate safe, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian access,” the agency added in its release published in the CHA account, Tuesday.
The release lamented that the IOM's Regional Crisis Response Plan for Sudan and neigbouring countries was critically underfunded, with only 12 percent of the original USD 428 million appeal met. Within this, the Sudan response is just 11 percent funded, while neighbouring countries are 14 percent funded.
-0-PANA MO/RA. 9Sept2025
