980 Sudanese leave Egypt for their homeland under voluntary return program

Transport Committee Chairman Maher Al-Zein stated that “return operations are ongoing for all Sudanese wishing to return to the country from Egypt.”

He explained that the dispatching of higher education professors and students will begin next Thursday to enable them to catch up with the new academic year in Sudan.

The trip comes as part of ongoing return operations for Sudanese from Egypt over the past weeks.

On August 30, the committee announced the dispatch of 550 Sudanese from Cairo aboard 12 buses as part of the voluntary return program.

Additionally, 1,225 Sudanese returned aboard 25 buses on August 29, and another 882 on the 24th of the same month.

On August 20, the committee announced the return of 870 Sudanese aboard 30 buses, while another 1,100 returned on the 13th of the same month aboard 22 buses from Cairo.

This was preceded by the return of 350 Sudanese from Alexandria on August 3 aboard 7 buses.

During last July, the number of Sudanese returning from Egypt reached 6,074 people across 6 trips under the voluntary return program.

Since the outbreak of the war in Sudan in April 2023, more than 1.2 million Sudanese have left for Egypt, according to official estimates, while about 5 million Sudanese resided there before the war, making Egypt one of the most prominent destinations for those fleeing the fighting.

By the end of 2025, about 428,676 people had voluntarily returned to Sudan, according to figures previously announced by Sudanese Ambassador Abdel-Qader Abdullah.

The return operations came following an initiative launched by Egyptian authorities in October 2025 to transport Sudanese wishing to return via a dedicated train from Cairo to Aswan.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been witnessing a war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of about 13 million people, according to UN and international estimates.