A group of 150 Sudanese refugees returned home from Uganda on Sunday, the latest flight under a voluntary repatriation program that has now carried out 14 organized return journeys since it began in February.
The program, run by a Sudanese committee overseeing voluntary returns from Uganda, started with an initial flight of 150 people that landed in Port Sudan in February, at a time when improved security conditions in parts of Sudan made organized returns feasible for the first time since war broke out in the country in April 2023. Sudan’s government has said it aims to eventually repatriate around 10,000 citizens currently sheltering in Uganda, out of roughly 93,000 registered Sudanese refugees in the country.
Returnees arriving in Port Sudan are typically transported onward by bus to Khartoum and other states where conditions have relatively stabilized, as government forces have regained control over large parts of central Sudan in recent months. Organizers have stressed that participation in the program is strictly voluntary, limited to refugees who choose to return based on their own assessment of conditions back home.
The conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, both within the country and across the region, since fighting erupted more than three years ago. Even as returns pick up, aid officials have cautioned that going home does not equate to a return to normal life, with many returnees facing destroyed housing, disrupted services and scarce employment opportunities.
