As dawn’s rays crept across a February day between Khartoum’s winter and its short spring, the Atar team turned toward the city’s markets.
Behind the war’s darkness, markets appeared breathing: unbowed scenes whose visitors swung between profit and loss, immersed in trade after nearly two years of clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that halted their livelihoods.
Markets were shelled, others looted in broad daylight, some became shelters for arms and drug sales, and traders die for their bread.
Between Souq al-Laffa, Al Souq Al Arabi, Central, and Al Sahafa Zalt market, the team walked markets, interviewed merchants and recorded scenes of return after the clashes.
Sabrin Market to Al Souq Al Arabi
Our journey began at Sabrin Market in north Omdurman, from where we took transport to Al Souq Al Arabi Market. We noticed passengers’ names being recorded on a sheet before they boarded. When we asked the driver why, he tersely said it was for security reasons.
The trip’s first stop was Al Souq Al Arabi Market, which is only slowly recovering toward its prewar state and still requires extensive work to clear debris and refuse.
Al Souq Al Arabi market area, stretching from University Street in the north to the outskirts of Khartoum 2 and Khartoum 3 near the medical supplies complex, down to Freedom Bridge in the south, and from Al-Mak Nimer Street in the east to Al-Muqran in the west, witnessed fierce clashes between the Army and RSF, and the life that once pulsed there ground to a halt in the opening hours of the war.
On January 31, the Khartoum locality announced an initiative to rebuild Al Souq Al Arabi at the heart of the capital, one of the country’s largest commercial hubs, coordinating with merchants, company officials and travel agencies to remove war debris and rubble.
During the tour, we saw the popular Haya restaurant near Al-Sayed Abd al-Rahman Street reopen, and some traders cautiously unlock their shops. But Freedom Street appeared largely empty and most shops remained closed, aside from a single auto repair workshop; we noted that Nile, University and Freedom streets had been subjected to cleanup and debris removal.
Al Souq Al Arabi to Souq al-Laffa
Many of the traders who worked the market before the war have come back, alongside some newcomers. Yet sales remain weak compared with the prewar bustle.
Sadiq al Tayeb, clothing merchant, Souq al Kalakla al Laffa
The team set out from the Al Souq Al Arabi toward the Al-Kalakla al-Laffa market, about 15 kilometres south of the triangular capital’s centre.
Along the way, we passed a small new market in the Abu Adam area, a cluster of stalls and canopies where people moved back and forth, but, on arrival at Souq al-Laffa, we felt the market had been reborn after halting when it was first shelled in mid-May 2023.
Activity resumed after government forces entered the market in December 2024; residents of the vast Kalaka neighbourhood told us.
She described the market as stretching along a main road that links Kalaka al-Qubba and Kalaka Sanqaat and spreading over wide tracts between them: A market reborn, shops refilled with goods, noise reclaiming its broad avenues. Shopkeepers, stallholders and hawkers are all working; vendors’ voices cut through the city’s silence. You can enter the market from any side.
We found Osman Yahya, a cookware vendor, lost in thought about the market’s transformation.
“The market stopped during the war and was shelled. People left and traveled. But its situation has improved, most traders returned and shops reopened, though a few remain ownerless,” Yahya said, pointing at a shuttered storefront.
Sadiq al-Tayeb, a clothing merchant, told the team the same: Many of the traders who worked the market before the war have come back, alongside some newcomers. Yet sales remain weak compared with the prewar bustle, when the market enjoyed a high volume of trade and strong purchasing power.
Atar team found that, like most jewelry vendors in the market, Mutasim Muhammad Ahmed had returned to his shop but complained of weak demand for gold because of high prices, a gram of 21-carat gold sells at 530,000 Sudanese pounds.
We walked with shoppers heading to groceries, produce stalls and butcheries, and met Abu Ali Yusuf, who said that supplies are available but prices are rising as Ramadan approaches.
A produce vendor told us prices were affordable and within reach: “A kilo of bananas goes for 2,000 pounds, and so does a dozen oranges”
Murtada Mansour, a butcher at the market, said a kilo of lamb is 36,000 pounds, veal 22,000 and minced meat 24,000 Sudanese pounds.
At the end of our tour of Souq Al kalakla al-Laffa, we sat in a café with its doors wide open, away from the market’s din. The café owner, commenting on the market’s return, said:
“Thank God things are stabilizing. Customers are coming in, which boosts our daily income.”
We noted a noticeable presence of restaurants, cafés and pharmacies, though traders complained about poor electricity and water services; many have turned to solar power as an alternative.
Sahafa Zalt Market
Before reaching the Central Market of Khartoum, Atar team passed a small market that runs along both sides of Sahafa Zalt Street and throngs with pedestrians.
The shops are stocked with a variety of goods sufficient for neighbourhood residents, sparing them long trips and saving effort and time.
At the first glance, the scene presented canopies and small stalls scattered through the market, with voices rising here and there.
Asked about prices, one regular shopper said:
“We are residents of Sahafa Zalt, and we were displaced. When we returned, we found the neighbourhood improved and neighbours cooperating in everything. As for prices, they are reasonable, thank God.”
Saad al-Din Ba’nga, a merchant at the Sahafa Zalt market, said the market has begun to recover slightly after some residents returned to their homes, and that merchants are striving to supply goods to help stabilize life for locals.
But Al Noor Abdullah, a neighbourhood resident, urged authorities to restore security, pointing to continuing lawlessness in some streets.
Khartoum’s Central Market
Weapons were openly sold and even tested above our heads. We would run away, then come back again.
Haja Fatima, Central Market shopper who remained in Khartoum during the war
For merchants and patrons of the Central Market, what occurred there during the war was nothing short of a nightmare, given its location beside Sports City, the area from which the first bullet was fired on April 15, 2023.
Security rapidly collapsed, the rule of law unraveled in the market, and it turned into a hub for the sale of drugs and weapons in all forms during the period when the Rapid Support Forces controlled the market and its surroundings.
It also became a locus for trading stolen goods, market workers told Atar.
Haja Fatima, who never left Khartoum during the clashes, recalled the market as terrifying, weapons were openly sold and even tested above their heads.
Laughing nervously, she said: “We would run away, then come back again.”
Merchant Mohamed Omar said narcotics were sold in every variety, and disagreements over price or other matters sometimes prompted exchanges of gunfire among the Rapid Support Forces’ fighters inside the market. Several people died as a result.
Abubakr Abdel Qader described thefts and armed looting of traders, which led many to abandon the market at the time to protect their lives.
Although security conditions have improved since the fighting ended, the market still experiences occasional lawlessness, merchants told Atar.
We observed vegetable sellers spreading their wares on the ground, which pollutes the market environment and threatens public health. The market clearly needs a cleanliness and sanitation campaign. Waste accumulates and sewage overflows onto the streets.
One produce vendor said the market has improved greatly and prices are affordable, but he urged the return of electricity because they need refrigerators to preserve fruits and vegetables. He added that they begin work at dawn and shoppers come and go without fear.
| Item | Price in Sudanese Pounds (SDG) |
|---|---|
| 50-kg bag of sugar | 150,000 |
| 10-kg sugar | 32,000 |
| 5-kg sugar | 12,500 |
| 25-kg bag of red lentils | 72,000 |
| 1 lb tea | 20,000 |
| 1 lb coffee | 10,000 – 15,000 |
| Bag of ordinary rice | 65,000 |
| Bag of kabsa rice | 43,000 |
| 36-lb pack soybean oil | 145,000 |
| 36-lb pack seed oil | 130,000 |
| 18-lb oil pack | 75,000 |
| Large Crystal oil pack | 21,000 |
| Carton of 1-litre oil bottles | 95,000 |
| Carton of medium Bishri soap | 64,000 |
| Carton of small Bishri soap | 33,000 |
| Carton of Majan tomato paste | 57,000 |
| Carton Nobu vermicelli | 35,000 |
| Pack Sega flour | 21,000 |
| Maluwa (adessiyya) | 12,000 |
| Maluwa (kabkabi) | 24,000 |
| Maluwa (karkadi) | 6,000 |
| Maluwa (tabaldi) | 20,000 |
| Maluwa (ardib) | 15,000 |
| Small bag Egyptian fava beans | 150,000 |
| Large bag kabkabi | 600,000 |
Souq al-Laffa & Central Market (Khartoum) — Prices of selected food items.
| Item | Price (SDG) |
|---|---|
| Bag of carrots | 70,000–80,000 |
| Bag of red onions | 55,000–70,000 |
| Bag of okra | 30,000–35,000 |
| Large tray tomatoes | 50,000–60,000 |
| Small tray tomatoes | 20,000–30,000 |
| Bag of peppers | 40,000 |
| Bag of sweet potatoes | 50,000–55,000 |
| Carton of potatoes | 130,000 |
| Bag of ajjur | 80,000 |
| Bag of hot peppers | 60,000 |
| Bag of lemons | 150,000 |
| Bundle of green shamār (fennel) | 4,000 |
| Large bag of cucumbers | 12,000 |
Vegetable prices
| Item | Price in Sudanese Pounds (SDG) |
|---|---|
| Dozen oranges | 2,000 |
| Bag of Grapefruit | 3,000 |
| Persian nabq (Annab) (per sack) | 1,000 |
| Small box of raisins | 1,500 |
| Kom mangoes | 5,000–7,000 |
| Pomegranate (per piece) | 3,000–4,000 |
| Apple (per piece) | 1,500 |
| Dozen Iranian apples | 18,000 |
| Box of grapes | 7,000 |
| 1 kg frozen strawberries | 12,000 |
| 1 kg bananas | 2,000 |
| 1 kg guava | 4,000–6,000 |
Fruit prices
| Item | Price in Sudanese Pounds (SDG) |
|---|---|
| 1 kg lamb | 30,000–36,000 |
| 1 kg veal (ajali) | 20,000–24,000 |
| 1 kg large-beef cuts | 20,000 |
| 1 kg liver | 24,000–26,000 |
