Khartoum demolitions leave thousands homeless as ‘state-sponsored eviction campaign’ expands

A large-scale demolition campaign across Khartoum State has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed homes, businesses and marketplaces, according to a recently published report by the Sudan Knowledge Centre (SKC).

The report says the campaign intensified after the withdrawal of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from Khartoum in March 2025 and has affected neighbourhoods in Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North (Bahri), particularly areas inhabited by poor communities and internally displaced people.

By the end of March 2026, at least 20,000 homes had been demolished and about 200,000 people had been directly or indirectly affected, the report states. In one of the latest operations, authorities demolished 364 homes in El Kadaru, Khartoum North, leaving about 3,000 people homeless.

The SKC describes the evictions as “legally flawed, cruel, inhumane and morally unjustified acts” and says the campaign has also destroyed thousands of shops and market stalls that provide livelihoods for low-income families.

“The destruction of these marketplaces has far-reaching socioeconomic consequences,” the report says, warning that the loss of homes and sources of income risks pushing vulnerable communities “deeper into misery, abject and extreme poverty, perpetual displacement and dependence on humanitarian aid“.

According to Siddig El Khalifa, chairman of a committee representing affected residents, “all their pleas and attempts to find a solution were rejected and the authorities insisted on the demolition.”

The report alleges that police and security forces carried out the operation under the supervision of Khartoum State authorities and says hundreds of people who resisted the demolitions were assaulted or detained.

Officials have defended the campaign as a security measure. The report cites one senior official who said the operation aimed to remove “informal housing” associated with “… security threats and negative social phenomena.” Khartoum State Governor Ahmed Osman Hamza also reportedly said that “the matter is no longer about urban planning, but rather it is an operation to combat crime.”

The SKC rejects that justification, arguing that the demolitions amount to “a retaliatory and collective punishment” and disproportionately affect communities from Darfur and Kordofan. It says many victims were accused of being the “human incubators” of the RSF because of their regional origins.

Warning of the broader humanitarian impact, the report says that “any large-scale forced eviction and demolition operation that targets such densely populated settlements risks generating devastating effects on the lives and livelihoods of millions of already vulnerable residents.”

Read the full report here: Sudan Knowledge Centre – Forced Evictions and Demolition of Homes in Khartoum