Hartum, prestonica Sudana, posle tri godine ratovanja deluje kao grad-duh: promenjeni obrisi poznatih zgrada, prazni javni prostori i ljudi koji pokušavaju da vrate normalnost u grad koji je pretrpeo višestruka razaranja.
Deca šeću praznim zabavnim parkom u senci zgrada koje su, nakon napada, pretvorene u ruševine. Ulice i tlo su prekriveni čahurama, krhotinama i neeksplodiranim eksplozivnim napravama, što dodatno ugrožava povratak i bezbednost meštana.
Konflikt između sudanske vojske i paravojne formacije Rapid Support Forces (RSF) i dalje se vodi u drugim delovima zemlje, pa i pored povratka vojske u Hartum, pretnja novog nasilja ostaje prisutna.
U mnogim delovima grada postavljena su improvizovana groblja duž ulica; volonteri ih sada iskopavaju u pokušaju da identifikuju posmrtne ostatke. Nekima se zna identitet, ali hiljade žrtava ostaju neidentifikovane, što dodatno opterećuje porodice i zajednice.
Za porodice koje traže nestale, nada se nalazi u bazi podataka mrtvačnice bolnice Al Nao u susednom Omdurmanu — jedinoj mrtvačnici koja je ostala funkcionalna dok je prestonica bila pod kontrolom RSF-a. Bolnica je bila meta nekoliko bombardovanja, ali i dalje prima ranjene i pruža neophodnu negu, među kojima je i devojčica koja je izgubila oko.
Otprilike od trenutka kada je vojska prošle godine povratila kontrolu nad Hartumom, vlasti pozivaju građane da se vrate i počnu obnavljanje života i infrastrukture. Ipak, mnogi stanovnici oklijevaju zbog rizika od neeksplodiranih sredstava, neizvesnosti i nedostatka osnovnih usluga.
Šta ostaje
Grad se polako oporavlja, ali put ka potpunom povratku u normalu je dug: potrebni su radovi čišćenja terena, identifikacija žrtava i obnova bolnica, škola i drugih javnih servisa. Dokumentovanje i baze podataka, poput one u Al Nao, pokazuju koliki je značaj sistematskog pristupa u procesu obnove i pomirenja.
A guard walks through a war-damaged section of Al Shaabi Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A man shows an X-ray revealing a bullet lodged in his chest during a visit at Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Abubakr Alsawi, right, waits during the exhumation of his brother Mohammed Alsawi, 73, who was killed in 2023 by the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A 50-year-old woman who said she was abducted and sexually assaulted for four months by the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, before escaping, poses for a portrait after an interview with The Associated Press in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Backdropped by a war-torn building, children enjoy an amusement park in downtown Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
An elderly Muslim man prays while others perform zikr, a mystical Sufi ceremony, inside the war-damaged Sheikh GaribAllah Mosque in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A Sudanese man buys vegetables in downtown Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A street vendor sells candy and balloons in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
FILE - Patient Saidal Altaher, 2 months, is being treated for malnutrition at the pediatric hospital stabilization center in Port Sudan, Sudan, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Zeinab Mujhed, 8, who was injured in a shelling attack, poses for a portrait inside Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
FILE - Medical staffers move a patient to the operation table at Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Tariq Abuzeid, 52, who lost his leg in a shelling attack, sits with his granddaughter in the family living room in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Omer al-Toum, 33, who lost his leg and arm by the explosion of unexploded ordnance, sits in his bedroom in Bahri, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Sudanese men walk inside the war-damaged Sheikh GaribAllah Mosque in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A picture of Sudan's army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, next to writing in Arabic that reads, "One people created the leader," sits among religious items for sale at a market in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
An empty checkpoint where a mannequin dressed as a soldier stands in downtown Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Drone and shell casings lie inside a room at the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Members of the Forensic Medicine Corporation team exhume the body of Mohammed Alsawi, 73, who was killed in 2023 by the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Children play soccer in a public park next to an improvised graveyard from the war in Omdurman, on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)