After two years of civil war, Sudan's capital is a shell of its former self

Summary

Consider This from NPR: After Two Years of Civil War, Sudan's Capital is a Shell of Its Former Self

Release Date: May 9, 2025

In this poignant episode of NPR's "Consider This," host Mary Louise Kelly delves deep into the heart-wrenching aftermath of a two-year-long civil war that has ravaged Sudan, particularly its capital, Khartoum. Through firsthand reporting and personal narratives, the episode paints a vivid picture of destruction, resilience, and the uncertain path toward rebuilding.

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Introduction: The Devastation of Khartoum

Mary Louise Kelly sets the stage by highlighting the brutal civil war that has left Sudan in turmoil. Last month, NPR international correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu secured rare access to Khartoum, witnessing firsthand the extensive damage inflicted upon the city. Once bustling with over six million residents, Khartoum now stands largely destroyed, its infrastructure and monuments reduced to rubble.

“For more than two years, Sudan has been mired in a brutal civil war, a war that has devastated the country.”
— Mary Louise Kelly [00:00]

Personal Loss: Ammar Awad's Story

A central narrative revolves around Ammar Awad, a 48-year-old Sudanese producer who has spent most of his life in Khartoum. Awad shares a deeply personal account of his family's home, now a shell of its former self due to the conflict.

“This one, it's mine.”
— Ammar Awad [00:37]

Awad describes the destruction he witnessed:

“When you will see this, you will.”
— Ammar Awad [00:49]

The devastation of his family home symbolizes the broader loss experienced by countless Sudanese families. Despite the destruction, Awad expresses a profound sense of forgiveness towards those who perpetrated the violence.

“If he who ripped wood from this home... we forgive him.”
— Ammar Awad [01:14]

Destruction and Signs of Revival in Khartoum

Emmanuel Akinwotu provides a nuanced view of Khartoum's current state. Amidst the wreckage, glimpses of life and attempts at revival surface. Children navigating deserted streets on bicycles and small businesses tentatively reopening signify a community striving to reclaim normalcy.

“These are the scenes emerging from a city hollowed out by the war.”
— Emmanuel Akinwotu [03:59]

Cultural Heritage Under Siege: The National Museum

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the catastrophic damage to Sudan's National Museum. Emmanuel interviews Musa El Fedor, an archaeological researcher with 27 years at the museum, revealing the extensive looting and destruction carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“Every wire, they dig and take it. And also all the air conditioning.”
— Musa El Fedor [06:50]

The museum, home to nearly 100,000 artifacts spanning over 4,500 years, lies in ruins. Precious items, including mummies and relics from various eras, have been either stolen or destroyed, stripping Sudan of its rich historical legacy.

Humanitarian Crisis: Stories of Suffering and Survival

The episode doesn't shy away from the human cost of the conflict. Survivors like Munir Jalabi, a 24-year-old detained by the RSF, share harrowing accounts of abuse and inhumane conditions.

“His body is skeletal, his bones bulging through his skin.”
— Mary Louise Kelly [07:33]

Jalabi's mother, Afaf Abubakar, recounts the terror her family endured:

“She thought he'd died until she got the call that her son was at the hospital.”
— Mary Louise Kelly [08:25]

The Long Road to Recovery

As Khartoum begins to show signs of life, the enormity of the rebuilding task becomes apparent. Cleanup operations are underway, but the scale of destruction means that rebuilding the city will require several years and substantial financial investment.

“Their work only scratches the surface. It will take several years and billions of dollars to rebuild Khartoum.”
— Mary Louise Kelly [09:12]

Moreover, while infrastructure can be reconstructed, the deeply fractured social fabric of Sudan poses significant challenges to achieving lasting peace and unity.

“Only mourned and cherished in memories that.”
— Mary Louise Kelly [09:54]

Conclusion: A City in Ruins, A People Forgiving

The episode closes on a somber yet hopeful note, emphasizing the resilience of Sudanese people like Ammar Awad, who despite immense personal loss, hold onto forgiveness and the possibility of rebuilding. However, the scars of war run deep, and the path to a united Sudan remains fraught with challenges.

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This episode of "Consider This" offers a comprehensive and emotionally charged examination of Sudan's capital amid and after a devastating civil war. Through intimate interviews and vivid descriptions, NPR underscores the profound losses and the daunting task that lies ahead for Khartoum and its people.

Transcript

[Mary Louise Kelly]

For more than two years, Sudan has been mired in a brutal civil war, a war that has devastated the country. Last month, NPR international correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu gained rare access to the capital city, Khartoum. That is where the war erupted, and much of the city, once home to more than 6 million people, has been damaged or destroyed. Emmanuel worked with Sudanese producer amar Awad. He's 48, and he's lived in Sudan most of his life. While reporting on the impact of the war on his country, Awad was also confronted with his own loss.

[Ammar Awad]

This one, it's mine.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Among the many places they visited, Awad's family home, a big brick bungalow on the outskirts of Khartoum. He and his family were forced to flee during the war.

[Ammar Awad]

When you will see this, you will.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

See that now it's uninhabitable. There are fallen walls, heaps of brick.

[Ammar Awad]

And this is the roof from us.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

The metal roof ripped off, the house ransacked and looted.

[Ammar Awad]

And all of them, they came here, as I know they take it.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Some of the family's belongings lie scattered in the rubble.

[Emmanuel Akinwotu]

Here.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

This Quran of my dad, the Quran of his dad. Walking through the shattered pieces of the life he once lived, the home he once loved, he's overcome. In Arabic, Awad says his feelings are not of sadness, but forgiveness. If he who ripped wood from this home, he says, and used it to light a fire to cook with, we forgive him. If he who stole from here was someone in need, we forgive him. Consider this.

[Ammar Awad]

Madame will build the guide with Benitani.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

This house can be rebuilt, Awad says. But unlike the house, he says, the once united people of Sudan, they may never come back together. From npr, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

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[Mary Louise Kelly]

It's consider this from npr. It has been more than two years since civil war exploded on the streets of Khartoum. A conflict which by some estimates has killed as many as 150,000 people. The council on Foreign Relations says more than have been displaced. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took over the city. In the early weeks of fighting, the RSF were battling their former allies, the Sudanese armed forces, in a war that has caused humanitarian catastrophe and the worst famine in decades. Then, about a month ago, Khartoum was recaptured by the Sudanese army. But the city is a shell of its former self, as NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu reports.

[Emmanuel Akinwotu]

Against a backdrop of destruction, sounds of life and revival in Khatum, groups of children ride their bikes through eerie, deserted streets. They race and skid on the sandy concrete, riding past empty buildings and storefronts left in ruins. A stand selling Sudanese tea and coffee has reopened for the first time in two years. The owner lays out plastic chairs and serves the first few customers. And nearby staff at a bakery sweep glass from the storefront shattered by gunfire. There's a shortage of water and no electricity. But then the generator bursts into life and the bakery reopens again. These are the scenes emerging from a city hollowed out by the war. It's more than a month since Khatoum was recaptured by the Sudanese army after two years of brutal occupation by the Rapid Support Forces, or rsf. Just a few years ago, this was one of Africa's most populous cities with bougainvillea draped of sand coloured walls, restaurants lining the riverbanks. The city filled with monuments and architecture rooted in various eras of Sudan's history. But much of Khatoum is a scene of destruction. We walk across broken concrete and glass at the centuries old presidential palace occupied by the RSF until the last days of the battle for Khartoum. The halls battered and broken, its facade burnt to a matchstick. Almost nothing has been spared, not even the country's treasures. Sudan's national museum held rich records of the country's ancient civilization. After you.

[Musa El Fedor]

Welcome. Welcome.

[Emmanuel Akinwotu]

At the museum, I met Musa El Fedor, an archaeological researcher working here for 27 years. As we walk through the gates, the scale of the damage is overwhelming.

[Musa El Fedor]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[Emmanuel Akinwotu]

The gardens are charred black, the museum walls blown open. Towering statues of Nubian kings at the entrance are punctured by bullet holes, the arms hacked off inside. The cabinets are empty, the floors covered in debris, precious evidence of Sudan's ancient history. Was ransacked. The museum held close to 100,000 artifacts that spanned more than 4,500 years. It stored mummies and artifacts from the Islamic, Christian and Meroritic eras.

[Musa El Fedor]

These forests are small antiquities. It belonged to the Marawatic period at that time.

[Emmanuel Akinwotu]

But most of it was looted by the rsf. Even electric cables were ripped from the walls and stripped for copper.

[Musa El Fedor]

Every wire, they dig and take it. And also all the air conditioning. They take the machine again inside and.

[Emmanuel Akinwotu]

Take it in several offices. Fighters even defecated in the room. Most of the artifacts that they didn't take with them, they burnt or destroyed. Only the library was left, mostly intact. As we drive through Khartoum with music playing from the car stereo, the sheer scale of the theft and damage unfolds at every turn. It feels like the RSF swarmed through the capital city like locusts through a field. They stripped almost every building and home they controlled of anything of value. And the same brutality inflicted on the city was also inflicted on its people. The RSF turned schools, hospitals and homes into detention centres. Untold numbers of people were tortured and killed. As told through the survivors, that 24 year old Munir Jalabi at a military hospital in Khartoum. His body is skeletal, his bones bulging through his skin. He was arrested by the RSF over a year ago while he was buying food at a market. Jalavi was kept in a cell packed with people who were whipped and beaten. They were only fed a small glass of lentils and water each day, if at all. The bodies of those who died would be left in the cell for days. Jalabi's mother, AFAF Abubakar, is sitting by his side. She said she didn't recognize her son when she first saw him here three weeks. She thought he'd died until she got the call that her son was at the hospital. We continue our journey across Khartoum through areas kicking back into life. And every so often we stop when our driver or our producer, Ammar Awad, spots family or friends they've lost touch with during the war. Awad greets his old school friend who refused to leave Khartoum. He says the community suffered under RSF occupation and that they're thankful to be alive. A major cleanup operation is now underway. Teams of tractors clear the rubble and debris across the city, street after street. Yet their work only scratches the surface. It will take several years and billions of dollars to rebuild Khartoum. But not everything can be replaced or rebuilt. Only mourned and cherished in memories that.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Was NPR's Emanuel Akinwotube reporting from Khartoum, Sudan. This episode was produced by Michael Levitt and Jason Fuller. We have engineering support from Ted Mebane. It was edited by Jeanette woods and Tara Neal. Our executive producer is Sami Yeniken. It's Consider this from npr. Hi, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

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[Emmanuel Akinwotu]

On the.

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