STORY: Displaced Sudanese return home amid uncertainty, hardship
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 19, 2025
DATELINE: Feb. 20, 2025
LENGTH: 00:01:36
LOCATION: WAD MADANI, Sudan
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of displaced people gathering at a bus station
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ENAS EL-TOM, Displaced Sudanese
3. various of people waiting and taking the buses
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): HALIMA ISMAIL, Displaced Sudanese
5. various of the buses driving away
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ADIL MUSA, Displaced Sudanese
7. various of the buses driving away

STORYLINE:

With mixed feelings of joy and fear, 37-year-old Enas El-Tom boarded a bus with her three children to embark on a journey back to Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State in central Sudan. El-Tom was returning home after nearly a year in a displacement camp in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.

Since early February, authorities in Red Sea State have been organizing voluntary trips for displaced people to return to central Sudan. These efforts came in the wake of the Sudanese army's recapture of Wad Madani on Jan. 11.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ENAS EL-TOM, Displaced Sudanese
"We just want to return to our homes. We are tired of displacement and have never felt comfortable at all. We will return to our homes. And even if we find nothing in the house, the important thing is our return."

Halima Ismail, another displaced individual, spoke to Xinhua as she placed her two large bags on the ground at the bus station in Port Sudan. "These are all we have," she said. "Just clothes for my family."

Ismail believes that returning home will be the best remedy for her father, who has suffered from heart disease for over 20 years.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): HALIMA ISMAIL, Displaced Sudanese
"Our happiness at returning to our homes is beyond words."

Though eager to return to Wad Madani, Ismail was heartbroken to learn from relatives that her house had been looted and badly damaged after being hit by a shell.

Earlier returnees to Wad Madani said scars remain even as the city slowly recovers from intense clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Adil Musa returned to his home in the Maringan neighborhood after more than a year of displacement in Gedaref, eastern Sudan. Musa said that he still fears walking the streets of Wad Madani due to the risks posed by unexploded ordnance or landmines planted by the RSF, which controlled the city for over a year.

Basic necessities including electricity, water, food, and healthcare are still unavailable, according to Musa.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ADIL MUSA, Displaced Sudanese
"We are happy to have returned to our families and homes, and we are working to rebuild after our houses were looted. Although the situation is difficult, our joy helps us overcome the challenges."

Approximately 10,000 displaced people from the eastern Sudanese cities of Port Sudan, Gedaref, and Kassala have been voluntarily returned to Wad Madani since Feb. 3, according to statistics released by Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commission on Feb. 18.

Sudan has been gripped by a devastating conflict between the SAF and RSF since mid-April 2023. The fighting had claimed at least 29,683 lives by the end of 2024, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data crisis monitoring group.

The conflict has displaced over 15 million people, either inside or outside Sudan, according to estimates by the International Organization for Migration.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Wad Madani, Sudan.
(XHTV)