Two-year curfew lifted in Sudan's capital

Sudan's military-led government has lifted a curfew and state of emergency in Khartoum imposed more than two years ago, state media says.

The authorities are taking this step 18 months after the army seized back control of the capital from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which it has been fighting in a civil war now in its fourth year.

But clashes continue in the south and west, with mounting evidence that the war is spilling across Sudan's borders.

More than two million of the roughly five million people who fled Khartoum after war erupted in April 2023 have returned to the city since fighting there ended in March 2025, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The aim of lifting the curfew is to help restore normal life to the capital.

The government has reopened the city's main airport for some flights and is encouraging businesses and embassies to come back.

Many have found widespread damage with many buildings looted. And they have to cope with constant power blackouts, due to alleged RSF drone attacks on electricity infrastructure and a lack of government funds to carry out repairs.

"The targeting of the electricity sector in particular was very significant," a spokesperson for the Khartoum state government, Altayeb Saadeldin, told the Reuters news agency, listing looting of copper wires and fuel and other components, as well as drone attacks, as reasons for the outages.