Sudan refugees returning home face new ‘struggle for survival’: UN

Returnees find chronic need for investment with homes, water supplies, health provision, electricity ‘heavily damaged’.Nearly 4 million people have voluntarily returned to their places of origin in Sudan in the hope of rebuilding their lives, according to the United Nations, but still face a new “struggle for survival”.Although the war in Sudan grinds on, 3.99 million returnees have been counted, mainly concentrated in Khartoum and the agricultural state of Al-Jazirah, southeast of the capital, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Inside war-hit Sudan’s only functioning hospital curing tropical diseaseslist 2 of 3Sudan’s Prime Minister: This is the path out of the horrors of warlist 3 of 3Who is keeping the fight alive in Sudan’s war?end of listHowever, the agency warned that these people are returning to find destroyed communities and an urgent need for investment to rebuild basic infrastructure.“Many are returning because they believe security has improved,” said the IOM’s Sung Ah Lee. “Others are returning because life in displacement has become unbearable.”However, she warned, their return would prove unsustainable without “urgent investment to restore essential services and rebuild infrastructure and revive livelihoods”.The conflict between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since it erupted in April 2023.The war internally displaced nearly 12 million people as they fled areas like Gezira, Khartoum, and parts of Sennar and Kordofan, according to the IOM. More than four million fled to neighbouring countries.Farmers are now returning to their fields to find that irrigation systems and equipment have been destroyed. Such conditions leave food production at breaking point against a wider backdrop of food insecurity, Lee said.