Families find a new danger in Sudan's battered capital, unexploded shells

As thousands of residents return to war-scarred neighborhoods in Khartoum, they are encountering a deadly new threat — unexploded munitions littering homes, schools, and streets — a grim legacy of Sudan’s ongoing civil war that de-mining teams say they are woefully under-resourced to address.

In Khartoum’s Amarat district, a grey-bearded, bespectacled man stumbled out of a primary school, visibly shaken. Like many others, 62-year-old Abdelaziz Ali had returned to inspect buildings recaptured by the army after two years of civil war. What he found instead was an alarming new danger — an unexploded shell hidden beneath a pile of cloth in the school where he once worked as an administrator.

“I’m terrified. I don’t know what to do,” Ali said. “It’s about 40 centimeters long — looks like an anti-armor round. This is a children’s school.”

The streets, homes, schools, and shops of Sudan’s capital are now strewn with abandoned ammunition and missiles, left behind after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were pushed out. As families cautiously return to these damaged neighborhoods, they are met not with peace, but the threat of deadly remnants of war.

Sudanese and U.N. teams are working to locate and clear unexploded ordnance, but progress is slow. A shortage of personnel and funding — worsened by recent U.S. aid cuts — has left large areas unchecked. In Amarat, Ali pointed to more shells scattered along the dirt road between the school and a nearby kindergarten. Several missiles remained lodged in the wreckage of vehicles.

A caretaker from another building said ammunition and drones had been removed from a basement, but anti-tank missiles were left behind. “We’re afraid just one explosion could bring down the whole building,” he said.

Since the army regained control of Khartoum and much of central Sudan, more than 100,000 people have returned. The conflict, which erupted in April 2023 over plans to merge the military with the RSF, has shifted — with the RSF now relying on drone strikes against infrastructure in army-held regions, especially in western Sudan where they still maintain control.

Unseen Threats and Mounting Casualties

According to Major General Khaled Hamdan, head of Sudan’s National Mine Action Centre, over 12,000 explosive devices have been cleared since the conflict began. Another 5,000 have been uncovered in newly reclaimed areas. However, the danger persists. At least 16 civilians have been killed and many more injured by munitions detonating in recent weeks — though the true number is likely higher.

“We only have five operational teams in Khartoum right now,” said Jamal al-Bushra, who leads de-mining efforts in the capital, focusing on strategic sites such as hospitals, government buildings, and major roads.

Hamdan said $90 million is urgently needed to launch comprehensive de-mining and survey operations.

For now, teams handle unexploded shells with bare hands, placing them in old boxes or stacking them in trucks padded with dirt. Volunteer groups have stepped in to help, with some, like Helow Abdullah’s team in Omdurman’s Umbada neighborhood, handling more than ten live shells in a single day.

The situation nearly reached a breaking point in March when the U.N.’s Mine Action Programme faced closure due to funding gaps — only narrowly avoided thanks to Canadian support. But challenges persist. Travel permits are difficult to obtain, and staffing is critically low.

Sediq Rashid, head of the U.N. programme in Sudan, warned that their teams have only just begun to address the scale of the problem. “We’ve barely scratched the surface, especially outside Khartoum,” he said. “These areas must be cleared by professionals — and people are returning before that happens.”

A Personal Tragedy

For many, the consequences are devastating. On Tuti Island, where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile, 16-year-old Muazar lost his left arm and suffered multiple injuries when a shell detonated while his family was clearing debris from their home.

“It was a 23 mm anti-aircraft round. It went off without warning,” said Muazar’s uncle at his bedside in an Omdurman hospital. “The blast left a crater two meters wide.”

As Sudan's war shifts, unexploded ordnance remains a silent, deadly threat — and for thousands of returning civilians, danger still lies just beneath the surface.

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