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Footage emerging from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, defies belief. Once-bustling streets like Al-Jumhuriya Road and Al-Soug Al-Arabi now lie silent, covered in smoke and rubble. What was once a center of commerce, life, and resilience has turned into a ghost city, hollowed out by a war that has not only destroyed buildings, but also shattered trust. 

This war, sparked in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, has left deep physical and psychological scars. But as calls for ceasefires and peace negotiations continue, a pressing question remains: What will it take to bring life back to Khartoum? Is the end of war enough? 

The answer is no. True reconstruction starts not with cement, but with people, particularly the return and empowerment of Sudan’s middle class. Any vision for postwar recovery that overlooks this group is bound to fail. Teachers, engineers, doctors, journalists, small business owners, and civil servants — these are the people who sustained Sudan’s urban life, held communities together, and fueled the country’s economic engine. 

What was once a center of commerce has turned into a ghost city

Areig Elhag

Today, many of them have lost their livelihoods, been displaced, or fallen into poverty. Most are unwilling to return without serious guarantees: security, restitution, and a sense of belonging. Rebuilding physical infrastructure is possible, but restoring trust is far more difficult. 

History offers powerful lessons on how nations rose from the rubble. From France and Germany after the Second World War, to Japan, China, and Malaysia, and even across Africa in countries such as Rwanda and Mozambique, the road to recovery was not merely paved with international aid. It was led by national strategies that invested in human capital, revitalized the middle class, and reestablished a sense of civic purpose. 

Postwar France lost more than 600,000 people and saw the collapse of its infrastructure. Yet through investments in education, transportation, and rail networks — alongside partial support from the Marshall Plan — the state reignited economic momentum. Within 25 years, per capita income rose by more than 170 percent, and France rebuilt its institutions on a socially and economically balanced foundation. 

In Japan, despite the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a death toll exceeding 2.5 million, the government launched its “Income Doubling Plan” in the 1960s. This focused on education, industrial innovation, and infrastructure development. By the 1970s, Japan had become the world’s third-largest economy. 

History offers powerful lessons on how nations rose from the rubble

Areig Elhag

In China, following the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), which resulted in the deaths of up to 2 million people, Deng Xiaoping launched sweeping reforms in 1978. These included liberalizing the economy, creating special economic zones, and attracting foreign investment. The result was a rapidly growing economy and a reemerging middle class. 

In Malaysia, after the severe racial riots of 1969, the country avoided descending into full-blown war by adopting a comprehensive development strategy in the 1970s, known as the New Economic Policy. It aimed to reduce economic inequality between ethnic groups, empower entrepreneurship, and expand access to education and housing — enabling a broad segment of the population to join a modern middle class. 

In Mozambique, after a 15-year civil war (1977–1992) that claimed over 1 million lives, the country began rebuilding by repatriating refugees, reopening schools, and reforming its financial system. Despite limited resources, it achieved relative stability through phased and community-based recovery programs. 

In Nigeria, Boko Haram’s insurgency has killed more than 35,000 people and displaced over 2.5 million, especially in the northeast since 2009. The government has responded by launching reconstruction projects in villages such as Ngom, focusing on vocational training, small enterprises, and building local markets and schools. This has helped to restore some degree of trust between communities and the state. 

In Rwanda, almost 800,000 people were killed in just 100 days amid genocidal violence in 1994. In its aftermath, the country implemented a bold national reconciliation strategy that emphasized anti-corruption, women’s empowerment, local governance, and a direct link between healing and development. This approach helped foster a new middle class and achieve notable economic growth, despite limited natural resources. 

All these experiences share one core principle: no reconstruction project can succeed without placing the middle class at its center — as planners, participants, and beneficiaries. 

What is happening in Khartoum is not just material destruction; it is a deep erosion of trust. The social fabric that once balanced poverty and wealth, state and society, has unraveled. The return of Khartoum depends not on the return of its buildings, but on the return of its middle class, which has always been the backbone of real and lasting stability. 

Rebuilding Sudan must not begin with concrete and bricks, but with restoring people — restoring their roles, dignity, and confidence that war will not return, and that the state will work for them, not against them. Only this trust can bring families back to their homes, investors back to their businesses, and society back to life. 

• Areig Elhag is a journalist and researcher based in Washington.