Sudan’s war has not ended, yet the country is already rebuilding. Amid active frontlines, mass displacement, and a humanitarian collapse, reconstruction has begun – but not as a neutral exercise in recovery. In Sudan today, reconstruction is political. It is a contest for power, a reordering of space, and a preview of the conflicts to come. What the government builds, where it builds, and whom it chooses to include are not administrative decisions. They are acts of authority. And in a country fractured by decades of marginalization, these choices will shape the next chapter of Sudan’s instability.

Sudan’s rebuilding has taken on an uneven, fragmented character. The capital region, Greater Khartoum – particularly Khartoum proper – is recovering at a pace unmatched anywhere else in the country. Roads are being cleared, ministries restored, and security posts re-established. Yet Darfur, Kordofan, the east, and large swaths of the north remain locked in siege, famine, displacement, and disease. The contrast is stark: While some districts of Khartoum have revived markets and partially restored water supplies, communities in Al-Fasher, Zamzam camp, Tawila, and dozens of surrounding areas are trapped without functioning clinics, clean water, or protection from violence.

This unevenness is not incidental. It follows a long-standing pattern of centralization that has defined Sudanese governance since independence. The capital has always absorbed the lion’s share of infrastructure, investment, and political attention. The war has only amplified this disparity. As soon as the Sudanese Armed Forces retook Khartoum in early 2025, the government announced an aggressive reconstruction plan promising to rehabilitate the city in nine months. The symbolism of the capital rising again – the army’s seat of power, the state’s administrative core – became an urgent priority that the rest of Sudan simply does not enjoy.

Governors from devastated states still travel to Khartoum to declare loyalty to the capital’s........

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