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.

But residents still struggle to rebuild their livelihoods.

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.

An RSF source responded that the allegations were “incorrect and army propaganda”.

Despite lifting the state of emergency, the authorities remain wary of RSF infiltration. The Sudan News Agency said security patrols would continue operating across the state and locals traveling at night would need to carry identification documents.

Reports compiled by BBC Monitoring say the army continues to carry out security sweeps across greater Khartoum, targeting alleged RSF sleeper cells, undocumented foreigners and criminals involved in illegal activities.

In the meantime, there is growing concern that the war is drawing in neighbouring countries.

Chad is accusing the military of carrying out an air strike that hit a military convoy in Ennedi-Est province, about 100km (62 miles) inside Chadian territory, on 20 August. It has reportedly put its forces along the border on maximum alert.

Sudan has rejected the charge, saying it is surprised that its army was blamed without an independent investigation.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said it “affirms that the Sudanese army fulfils its constitutional duty to defend Sudan’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and to confront the threats facing the country, while remaining committed to respecting the sovereignty of neighbouring states and refraining from targeting their territories”.

Sudan accuses Chad of permitting the passage of RSF military supplies delivered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through its airports and border crossings.

The UAE and Chad deny the allegations despite similar findings by UN experts and investigative reports by international media.

The attack on the Chadian convoy prompted the US Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos to express “deep concern” about the risk of Sudan’s war threatening regional peace and stability.

Boulos has been urging the parties to immediately accept a humanitarian truce. He has grown increasingly frustrated with the Sudanese military, which refuses to engage in a peace process unless the RSF disarms and withdraws from the territory it has occupied.

“The United States condemns the SAF’s recent air strikes inside Chad,” Boulos wrote in a post on X. “There is no military solution to this conflict – and absolutely no justification for expanding the violence beyond Sudan’s borders.

“External financial and military support to the warring parties must stop,” he added.

This month the US envoy presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council that would extend a 2005 weapons embargo on Darfur – the stronghold of the RSF – across the entire country and include a ban on attack drones, which are increasingly used by both sides.

Sudan’s government and army have rejected the proposal. According to local media reports officials argue that this unfairly equates the recognised national military with a paramilitary force and restricts its ability to defend citizens against an insurgency.