Over 1,000 Sudanese return home from Egypt under ongoing repatriation programme

Migrants at a detention centre in the city of Zawiya, Libya. (Photo: UNHCR)

By Bashir Mbuthia
Saturday, July 4, 2026

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Priority within the programme is being given to vulnerable individuals, particularly the sick and elderly. Some of the cases will be transported by air due to health considerations.

A total of 1,174 Sudanese nationals have returned home from Egypt under an ongoing voluntary repatriation programme coordinated by authorities in Khartoum.

According to the state-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA), the return on Saturday was carried out using 24 buses that transported Sudanese citizens across the border back into Sudan.

The exercise was coordinated by a voluntary return committee responsible for managing travel arrangements for nationals choosing to come home from abroad.

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Since fighting began on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an estimated 14 million people, around a quarter of Sudan’s population, have been forced to flee.

Of these, about 9 million remain displaced within Sudan, while roughly 4.4 million have crossed into neighbouring countries, mainly Chad, South Sudan and Egypt.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 850,000 Sudanese nationals are currently living in Egypt after fleeing the conflict in their home country, which entered its fourth year two months ago.

Support for refugees and asylum seekers in the country, the agency says, is now under threat because of a severe funding shortfall.

The pressure has been driven not only by recent changes in funding to humanitarian and development organisations, but also by a sharp rise in the refugee population in Egypt, which has grown from about 300,000 three years ago to more than 1.1 million.

“The share of funding available to each refugee has decreased from $11 (Sh1,422) per month to only $4 (Sh517),” UNHCR spokesperson in Egypt Christine Beshay said in May.

“The $11 (Sh1,422) amount was already insufficient to cover all the refugees’ needs, and therefore, with the number of refugees doubling and funding shortfalls, the support we provide has been reduced.”