Residents who live close to the Khartoum International Airport reported to Al Jazeera that drones and surface-to-air missiles were audible above the capital before loud explosions started to sound.
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The extent of the damage and whether the capital’s main airport was successfully struck are unknown.
The airport was scheduled to open its doors on Tuesday, one day before the airport’s fourth consecutive day of attacks, which came after at least two years of hostilities.
A single plane operated by the nearby Badr Airlines made an afghan landing on Wednesday, before a local airport official informed AFP on condition of anonymity that the airport’s reopening has been postponed “under further notice” due to incoming attacks.
According to Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, who is based in Khartoum, “there are concerns that this will not happen, despite authorities saying that operations are scheduled to begin on October 26.”
The war, which began in April 2023, has caused the most human-caused humanitarian crisis in the world, killing tens of thousands of people and displaced about 12 million more.
Return to Khartoum
In March, the Sudanese military retakes the city from the paramilitary force. Residents have since attempted to go back to their homes, frequently finding them destroyed.
The walls and ceilings of Alfatih Bashir’s Omdurman home, which he constructed with all of his savings, have collapsed. Bashir claimed to have constructed it while working abroad, not knowing how much money was left over to repair the damage.
“I’m just sitting quietly with my wife and two kids, not working.” Sometimes, we only have enough food to last. How do I even begin rebuilding?” he stated.
Authorities are still assessing the number of homes that have been damaged in the conflict, but the RSF and the military have left scars all over the city.
Afaf Khamed, a different resident, claimed she saw the extent of the damage and quipped, “I saw it go away.”
“We were born here, where all of our family members were married,” the statement read. She told Al Jazeera, “My sister and I now live here, and we can’t rebuild because we don’t have anyone to assist us.”
Reconstruction is a challenge for those who have worked during the war because the local currency is now in decline. The Sudanese pound increased from 600 to the US dollar in April 2023, when the conflict first started, to 3,500 pounds, despite salaries remaining stable.
The war-torn nation’s ability to support reconstruction is also hampered by poor transportation. Mohammed Ali, the owner of the store, claimed that because of security checks, materials take too long to arrive. In consequence, he claimed, “fewer and fewer people are purchasing building materials.”
