WAD MADANI, Sudan: In a bustling market in central Sudan, vegetable seller Ahmed Al-Obeid dusts off his wooden stall, carefully arranging fresh cucumbers and tomatoes in neat piles as customers cautiously return.
Just weeks ago, this market in the central Sudanese city of Wad Madani lay mostly deserted. Traders had shuttered their shops, gripped by fear of the paramilitaries who controlled the city.
Now, voices ring out again, bargaining over fresh produce as the city tentatively stirs back to life after the army reclaimed it from its rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last month.
“We are feeling safe again,” said Obeid.
“People are buying and selling like old times,” he told AFP, adjusting a pile of onions.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a war between the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the RSF.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this month called it “an unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in Africa, and the United States has sanctioned both Burhan and Dagalo for abuses.
Wad Madani — the capital of pre-war breadbasket Al-Jazira state — became a battleground when RSF forces descended on the city in December 2023, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the city and Al-Jazira.
But today, signs of recovery in the city are palpable, if restrained.
Buildings bear the scars of war. Blackened walls and piles of rubble are constant reminders of the destruction the city has endured.
Storefronts, restaurants and other businesses remain gutted by fire.
At a maternity ward in the city’s main hospital, expectant mothers wait with their families while nurses in white scrubs hurry through the corridors, attending to patients.
“Medicine is available. Life is finally back to normal. Things have completely changed, thank God,” Rehab Moussa, a patient receiving care, told AFP.
Yet, obstetrics and gynaecology specialist Khalid Mohammed said that although the hospital is slowly recovering, there are still serious shortages in staff, medicine and equipment.
“Our surgical supplies, including sutures, are nearly expired and we really need more anesthesia equipment,” Mohammed told AFP between surgeries.
When the RSF controlled Wad Madani, Mohammed was the only doctor on duty juggling multiple surgeries.
Even now, he dashes between operating rooms to manage the patient load.
Following the army’s recapture of Wad Madani in January, jubilant chants of “we’re going back” echoed in displacement centers across the country, including the de facto capital on the Red Sea, Port Sudan.
According to AFP journalists, dozens of buses carrying thousands of people have embarked from Port Sudan, Gedaref and Kassala — where around 1.5 million people in total have sought shelter — back home to Wad Madani.
Many of them had no idea what they would find, after the RSF had looted their way through the city, while others told AFP they knew their homes had been ransacked.
The city’s electricity has not yet been restored, water is unavailable most days and a communications blackout has only just been lifted, according to recent returnees.
However, near the market in Wad Madani, Mohammed Abdel Moneim, a tuk-tuk driver, is upbeat.
“The city is safe now. Everything is fine,” he said, weaving through the crowd in a search for passengers.
“But it is still missing one thing: the people. We need everyone to come back and rebuild the city,” he told AFP.
In addition to killing tens of thousands of people, the war in Sudan has created the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.
Across the country, more than 11.5 million people are internally displaced, including 2.7 million uprooted during previous wars in Sudan.
Most are suffering a rapidly worsening humanitarian situation as shortages of food, medicine and basic supplies plague even safe areas under army control.
Local monitors and the UN have also reported abuses following the city’s recapture, including targeting of minority communities and accusations of collaboration with the RSF.