The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Millions of desperate Sudanese return home amid dire conditions as war rages – IOM
Three years into the devastating conflict in Sudan, nearly four million displaced people have returned to their places of origin across the country, only to face “another struggle for survival”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
IOM Deputy Director General Sung Ah Lee said that returns were concentrated mainly in the capital Khartoum and neighbouring Al Jazirah state, where she was speaking to reporters.
“I was in Khartoum yesterday and I saw large numbers of people are returning to areas where homes and critical infrastructure including water, health, electricity, have been heavily damaged,” she said.
Going home despite the very “stark” reality encountered there reflects the determination of the displaced and the difficult circumstances pushing them to return, Ms. Lee explained.
IOM indicates that more than two million additional people are expected to return to Khartoum alone in 2026.
“Many are returning because they believe security has improved,” she said, while for others, life in displacement has become unbearable, notably due to economic pressures and increasingly hard conditions in neighbouring countries.
According to IOM, at the height of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which erupted on 15 April 2023, nearly 12 million people fled heavily affected areas, particularly Al Jazirah, Khartoum and parts of Sennar and Kordofan. More than 4.5 million crossed into neighbouring countries, first and foremost Egypt, South Sudan and Chad.
Today, almost nine million remain internally displaced.
“Host communities across the eastern and northern Sudan… Kassala, Gedaref, Red Sea, Northern and River Nile states, have carried much of this burden, welcoming displaced families while already facing economic hardship and climate-related pressures,” Ms. Lee stressed.
“This has stretched the available infrastructure almost to the limit.”
While in Khartoum rising returns have placed additional strain on war-damaged urban infrastructure, in Al Jazirah, a major agricultural region, returnees are finding levels of destruction that may jeopardize their chances of growing anything to survive.
“Farmers are returning to fields where irrigation systems and equipment have been damaged,” Ms. Lee said, “threatening livelihoods and food production at a critical moment for the country”.
While the humanitarian response remains severely underfunded, “without urgent investment to restore essential services and rebuild infrastructure and revive livelihoods, safe and sustainable returns are at serious risk,” she concluded.
-Ends-
STORY Sudan returns – IOM
TRT: 2:10’’
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 21 APRIL 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sung Ah Lee, Deputy Director General for Management and Reforms, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “Families are making really difficult journeys home. Nearly four million people have voluntarily returned to their places of origin, particularly to Al Jazirah.”
4. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screen; journalists in the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sung Ah Lee, Deputy Director General for Management and Reforms, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “I was in Khartoum yesterday and I saw large numbers of people are returning to areas where homes and critical infrastructure, including water, health, electricity, have been heavily damaged.”
6. Wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sung Ah Lee, Deputy Director General for Management and Reforms, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “Many are returning because they believe security has improved. Others are returning because life in displacement has become unbearable, because [of] economic pressures, also to reunite with families, or because conditions in neighboring countries are increasingly hard.”
8. Wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sung Ah Lee, Deputy Director General for Management and Reforms, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “Host communities across the eastern and northern Sudan, so that includes Kassala, Gedaref, Red Sea, Northern and River Nile states, these have carried much of this burden, welcoming displaced families while already facing economic hardship and climate-related pressures. This has stretched the available infrastructure almost to the limit.”
10. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screen; journalists in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sung Ah Lee, Deputy Director General for Management and Reforms, International Organization for Migration (IOM): “Farmers are returning to fields, but where irrigation systems and equipment have been damaged, it's threatening livelihoods and food production at a critical moment for the country. Without urgent investment to restore essential services and rebuild infrastructure and revive livelihoods, safe and sustainable returns are at serious risk.”
12. Various shots of journalists in the Press room.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Children shot, stabbed and pepper-sprayed in occupied West Bank; scores of Gaza amputees denied prosthetics, aid teams warn
Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
The risk of hantavirus spreading to the general population is “absolutely low”, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) stressed on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , IFRC
Death and destruction have continued unabated in Lebanon while communities are still unable to return to their homes despite a ceasefire that began on 17 April, humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Deadly hantavirus on board cruise ship may be transmitted among humans - WHO
Hantavirus victims on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean may have been infected prior to joining the cruise and human-to-human transmission on board cannot be ruled out – although it is rare - the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief concerned by upheld convictions of Cambodian activists.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , OHCHR
Middle East crisis puts aid, food, fuel further out of reach for millions already struggling – UN agencies
As the Middle East crisis continues the humanitarian fallout is worsening, with aid route disruptions and food and fuel price hikes wrecking the lives and rights of the most vulnerable, UN agencies warned on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNMAS
Demining experts from around the world have been sharing their collective shock at the widespread and growing threat from unexploded ordnance, the new head of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office in Syria conducted a 5-day visit to the northeast of the country where they received accounts of human rights violations and abuses.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Sudan: ‘History repeating itself’ for Darfur’s children - UNICEF
Mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur 20 years ago reverberated as far as Hollywood, but today, a new generation of children faces attacks, hunger and displacement in an emergency largely ignored by the outside world, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNMAS
Desperate and dangerous conditions in Gaza continue to hamper recovery efforts for the wartorn enclave's people, the UN health agency said on Friday, while demining experts warned that they’ve “barely scratched the surface” in assessing the level of contamination of unexploded ordnance.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News
The continued support of UN Member States to Lebanon will be “indispensable” to boost the country’s national armed forces and provide humanitarian assistance with more than one million people still uprooted by the Middle East war, the UN's peacekeeping chief said on Wednesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNECE
Middle East war: After oil and gas shortages, concerns grow over critical minerals crunch
The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused by war in the Middle East has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals needed to drive economies all over the world and a race by countries to obtain them.