What is behind the return train from Egypt to Sudan?
ABI staff members Franzisca Zanker and Dina Wahba shed light on Egypt's program for the voluntary return of Sudanese refugees for The Conversation.
Since July 2025, a train has been leaving Cairo to Aswan and on to Sudan every week as part of an official return program promoted by the Egyptian and Sudanese authorities as a sign of solidarity and reconstruction. However, Sudan has been in the midst of a devastating civil war since April 2023. More restrictive entry requirements, an unclear legal situation, and increasing social pressure have created a climate of uncertainty for many Sudanese refugees in Egypt. In this context, returning to Sudan seems less like a voluntary decision and more like the only option. It remains unclear how safe and permanent a return to a war-torn country can really be, what role international actors such as the EU play in this, and what this could mean for the protection of refugees in the future.
The article is available on the The Conversation website.
The ongoing war in Sudan and its consequences for the civilian population are a recurring topic of discussion within the ABI team and a subject of numerous publications.
We therefore recommend:
- a recent interview by Clara Taxis with human rights lawyer Nour Khalil, director of the Refugees Platform Egypt (RPE), published on Qantara.de
- a video from the Knowledges in Dialogue-series by the Postcolonial-Hierarchies Team, featuring Ilaaf Alaaeldin and Mai Ali Shatta from the sudanese-feminist BANA GROUP
and our reading list on Sudan, which offers historical and current references and perspectives.