With Government Absent, Khartoum North Residents Dig Wells and Fix Power Grids

Residents carry out maintenance on an electrical transformer in the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum Bahri, Sudan, June 28, 2025.

June 28, 2025 (KHARTOUM BAHRI) – Returning to homes in a city scarred by two years of war, residents of Khartoum Bahri are organising their own recovery, funding the digging of wells and repairing damaged electrical transformers as state services remain largely absent.

In neighbourhoods like Shambat, north of the capital, community-led initiatives are underway to restore a semblance of normal life for the small but growing number of families who have returned after being displaced by fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

With healthcare services decimated, volunteers are appealing for the reopening of the area’s main health centre. For now, medical care is limited to what is available at two partially functioning hospitals and occasional visits from mobile clinics run by the health ministry and aid groups, residents said.

Residents in Bahri raised funds to drill or repair more than 10 water wells, a project financed by a local businessman, according to residents.

Access to food remains a challenge, forcing residents to pay high prices for transport to larger markets as most local shops remain shuttered. Months-long power outages have crippled local commerce and daily life.

Volunteers are coordinating with the national electricity company to conduct what appear to be temporary repairs on local power infrastructure, which has sustained extensive damage in the conflict.

While a few small shops selling essential goods have reopened, widespread commercial activity has yet to return to the city.