Voluntary programme prepares flights home for at least 1,300 Sudanese refugees in Uganda

A difficult decision to return

A voluntary programme plans to fly at least 1,300 Sudanese refugees from Uganda back to Sudan, Al Jazeera reported on September 9. Uganda hosts more than 96,000 Sudanese refugees, according to UN figures cited in the report. For participants, departure is not a declaration that Sudan is broadly safe; it is an individual calculation shaped by family ties, limited work and difficult conditions in exile.

Engineer Jamal Mubarak, who fled because of the war, said he intended to return after struggling to find employment in Uganda. His experience captures a wider pressure in long-term displacement: legal safety across a border does not necessarily provide professional work, adequate income or a clear future. Some refugees may therefore decide that rebuilding at home offers a better prospect despite continuing insecurity.

Returns amid an unresolved war

The movement must be distinguished from forced repatriation or evidence of a general end to displacement. Sudan’s conflict continues to produce grave humanitarian needs and volatile local conditions. A responsible voluntary-return process requires informed consent, current information about destination areas and monitoring after arrival. The reasons one person chooses to go home cannot be assumed to apply to the wider refugee population.

UNHCR’s operational data system has continued publishing dedicated records of Sudanese returns from neighbouring countries, including Uganda. Its May 6 return factsheet covered movement through April and identified Uganda alongside Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad and Libya. That monitoring establishes that return flows are part of a broader regional pattern, occurring at the same time as people continue to seek protection outside Sudan.

What the programme must demonstrate

The planned flights will test whether organisers can maintain voluntariness while offering credible reintegration support. Returnees may need transport beyond the airport, documentation, temporary shelter and access to livelihoods and essential services. Engineers and other professionals could contribute to reconstruction, but only where security and local institutions permit sustained work. Otherwise, participants may face renewed displacement inside Sudan or another journey abroad.

The key evidence to watch is where the flights land, which destinations participants ultimately reach and whether UNHCR or other agencies can follow their circumstances. Uganda’s own refugee response also remains under funding and capacity pressure. Successful returns could ease some individual hardship, but they should not be used to justify reduced protection for Sudanese people who conclude that conditions are still too dangerous for them to leave.