On a tour of Khartoum city, Atar team observed that the activity of the Sudanese Police and its stations is the most conspicuous among government institutions beginning to resume operations. A minute hardly goes by without uniformed officers are cited.
Likewise, most police stations, including the traffic policeو have reopened.
The streets had been scenes of armed clashes from the outbreak of war in 2023, until the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) withdrew from the entire state in May 2025.
Vehicular and foot traffic appear light in central Khartoum and the Arab Market, compared with the brisk activity of cars and pedestrians in Omdurman.
Government offices show only modest movement, with people passing through gates in and out, as we observed at the Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries building along Freedom Street near Abu Hamama Market in the city’s southern quarter.
Procedures for identity documents
In the Abu Adam neighbourhoods of the Kallaklat areas, the Abu Adam Passport and Civil Registry Centre, popularly known as Jawazat Abu Adam, resumed operations last August.
The centre now runs intensively from early morning until about 3pm, processing applications for the national number certificate, passports and birth certificates, while issuance of the national ID card remains suspended across Sudan’s states, except at the public service complexes in Omdurman, where ID production restarted a few days ago.
The Abu Adam centre is crowded around the clock with dozens of citizens. Atar noted a surge in commercial activity among shops near the facility, especially eateries, beverage vendors and small personal-goods stores.
The farther one moves from the centre, the fewer the people and the greater the desolation.
Atar spoke with several people who had come to obtain identity papers, most of them from central Khartoum. With caution and reluctance to speak on the record, they expressed relief at being able to process their documents. Wait time runs between seven and nine days, and fees are broadly comparable to those charged at the public service complexes in Omdurman.
The small centre serves a wide area across the city of Khartoum and is currently the only facility operating in the Khartoum and Jabal Awliya localities.
Birth certificates for infants under one year are issued for 20,000 Sudanese pounds, while a replacement certificate carries a fee of 55,000 pounds. A birth certificate issued under the verification category also costs 55,000 pounds, as does issuing certificates for those born outside Sudan.
A new national ID number issued for the first time costs 20,000 pounds; replacement fee is 55,000 pounds, and changing personal data on the national ID is charged at 80,000 pounds.
Children’s passports cost 100,000 pounds and adult passports 170,000 pounds. New and renewed national identity cards are 75,000 pounds.
Those fees apply in Khartoum State; charges for issuing identity documents differ from one state to another because of varying “state fees,” which also depend on the category under which a document is issued.
Elsewhere in the city, the area around the Public Services Complex, Sajanah, appears deserted. Police sources told Atar that the complex has not yet resumed operations because preparatory maintenance work is incomplete, though it is expected to reopen soon.
Atar observed that applying for identity documents has become one of the most urgent official matters for residents after the end of military clashes in Khartoum. Nevertheless, official media pages continue to promise the resumption of services at other service centres, such as the Inter-Relations Complex and the Department of Foreign Affairs in central Khartoum.
Security challenges
The security dossier in Khartoum, with military entanglements, is managed through high level understandings with different force units.
Sudanese police source, speaking to Atar
The Sudanese Police face enormous security challenges as reports multiply about criminal networks tied to theft and other activities, such as drug trafficking, alongside armed groups of varying sizes and overlapping memberships, a mix that renders the security picture highly complex.
Speaking to Atar, a police source said the force in Khartoum is striking a flexible balance between enforcing the rule of law and containing the security crisis. He added that police adopt different tactics for operations such as “sweeps,” which can include military clashes with armed groups. In those cases, the police operate within mixed formations that include elements of the national police, the military police of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and intelligence units, and sometimes forces from the Joint Forces aligned under the Juba Peace Agreement.
When incidents are caused by small armed groups or individuals, the police or the joint formation can “assert the authority of the state,” the source said, more directly through military force.
Difficulty arises when the police detain people who claim affiliation with the Joint Forces signatory to the Juba peace agreement. If warning signs of a broader military confrontation appear, the source said, “high-level directives” may be issued to release detainees to prevent an escalation that would have political, military and security dimensions.
Referencing a previous incident, the source said the Joint Forces may later hand over some individuals tied to the crisis as deserters or say they were never affiliated. He believes the Joint Forces leadership aligned with the Juba Peace Agreement prefers to avoid political or media uproar.
Still, the security dossier in Khartoum, with military entanglements, is managed through what he called “high-level understandings” with different force units, a dynamic that adds complexity to efforts to understand and untangle it.
High activity and strong turnout
Last week, university student Mohamed Ahmed traveled from Omdurman to the Ministry of Health buildings of Khartoum State on Nile Street in Khartoum to pay fees linked to his nursing-training placement at a public hospital.
Before mid-June 2025, that procedure required visiting ministry offices in Omdurman’s Thawra Al-Hara Ninth.
Atar saw dozens of employees, students and trainees boarding public transport from Omdurman to reach institutions in Khartoum to complete official procedures at reopened universities, ministries and other agencies in the Khartoum locality.
Public transport drivers say ridership from Omdurman to Khartoum surged over the past two weeks, especially for the Ministry of Health route, which many passengers ask about. Some drivers extended the Bahri line to the Mak Nimir Bridge to get closer to the ministry buildings.
Speaking to Atar, Mohamed al-Mahdi, 40, a statistics official at the Ministry of Health, said that before June 15, 2025, the ministry in Omdurman was operating with roughly one-quarter of its full staff, while current capacity at its central Khartoum offices is about 75 per cent.
He described severe hardship for employees caused by weakened services and low salaries, which forced him to seek additional work alongside his ministry post. He also attributes part of the burden to the decline in local commercial services that once met personal needs around the ministry.
Returning ministries
Work initially resumed under a 5+1 emergency plan, starting with a minister and five staff members, with numbers increasing gradually to avoid disruption.
Nada Osman, Director of Media and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism
In remarks to Atar, Nada Osman, the director of media and public relations at the Federal Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism, said the ministry resumed operations in Khartoum State roughly two months ago. It is currently headquartered at the Mineral Towers complex in the Mujahideen district, south of Khartoum, a site state media refers to as the “Government Ministries Complex.”
The compound houses six ministries: Minerals, Trade, Industry, Justice, Human Resources and Social Development, and Culture, Information and Tourism, in addition to the Office of the Prime Minister.
Nada outlined the framework guiding the ministries’ return, explaining that work initially resumed under a “5+1 emergency plan.”
Under this formula, operations begin with a minister and five staff members, with personnel gradually increasing to meet functional demands and ensure no disruption in workflow, as she put it.
She noted that ministries currently vary in their operational capacity, with some functioning at 20 per cent and others at 30 per cent of their prewar staffing levels.
The Ministry of Culture is now operating with a workforce of 20 employees, in addition to labourers and drivers, according to Nada.
As for smaller institutions, such as councils, centres and subsidiary departments, they are still attempting to operate with administrative flexibility.
About six weeks ago, the Commercial Registrar General resumed work from his office on Palace Street in Khartoum and is now providing services, most of which are processed through lawyers.
Despite that, several institutions continue to carry out their duties outside Khartoum, including the National Council for Medical Specializations.
Meanwhile, some entities that have returned to the capital are grappling with organizational challenges, as well as allegations and criticism from clients. The complaints largely centre on procedural complications and delays that many describe as inexplicable.
