PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan’s capital eases to life again after 3 years of war

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Khartoum has become a kind of ghost town after three years of war. Children wander through an amusement park in the shadow of some of the Sudanese capital’s most well-known buildings, now reduced to shells after attacks.

The ground is littered with bullet casings, shrapnel and unexploded weapons. The threat of a return to fighting remains as conflict continues elsewhere in the vast country between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Khartoum’s streets are lined with improvised graveyards, now being exhumed by volunteers. Some of their remains are known, but thousands of the dead are unidentified.

For those searching for missing loved ones, hope may lie in the morgue database of Al Nao Hospital, the only one in Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman that remained operational while the capital was under RSF control. The hospital, bombed several times, still treats the wounded, including a girl who lost an eye.

Since the military retook control in Khartoum last year, authorities have encouraged people to return and reclaim some normality.

PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
A guard walks through a war-damaged section of Al Shaabi Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
A man shows an X-ray revealing a bullet lodged in his chest during a visit at Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Abubakr Alsawi, right, waits during the exhumation of his brother Mohammed Alsawi, 73, who was killed in 2023 by the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
A 50-year-old woman who said she was abducted and sexually assaulted for four months by the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, before escaping, poses for a portrait after an interview with The Associated Press in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Backdropped by a war-torn building, children enjoy an amusement park in downtown Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
An elderly Muslim man prays while others perform zikr, a mystical Sufi ceremony, inside the war-damaged Sheikh GaribAllah Mosque in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
A Sudanese man buys vegetables in downtown Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
A street vendor sells candy and balloons in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
FILE – Patient Saidal Altaher, 2 months, is being treated for malnutrition at the pediatric hospital stabilization center in Port Sudan, Sudan, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Zeinab Mujhed, 8, who was injured in a shelling attack, poses for a portrait inside Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
FILE – Medical staffers move a patient to the operation table at Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Tariq Abuzeid, 52, who lost his leg in a shelling attack, sits with his granddaughter in the family living room in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Omer al-Toum, 33, who lost his leg and arm by the explosion of unexploded ordnance, sits in his bedroom in Bahri, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Sudanese men walk inside the war-damaged Sheikh GaribAllah Mosque in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
A picture of Sudan’s army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, next to writing in Arabic that reads, “One people created the leader,” sits among religious items for sale at a market in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
An empty checkpoint where a mannequin dressed as a soldier stands in downtown Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Drone and shell casings lie inside a room at the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Members of the Forensic Medicine Corporation team exhume the body of Mohammed Alsawi, 73, who was killed in 2023 by the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHOTO ESSAY: Sudan's capital eases to life again after 3 years of war | iNFOnews.ca
Children play soccer in a public park next to an improvised graveyard from the war in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

News from © The Associated Press, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join the Conversation!

Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?

The Associated Press


The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.