Khartoum Takes Action Against Nearly 20,000 Foreigners

20 October 2025

Foreigners expelled by the Sudanese authorities from Khartoum state, file photo

October 20, 2025 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese authorities in Khartoum state have taken measures against nearly 20,000 foreigners, including trials and deportations, as part of a security campaign that followed the army’s recapture of the state in May, an interior ministry official said on Sunday.

The campaign has intensified the removal of foreigners and refugees from the capital region as authorities seek to restore security.

“The number of foreigners against whom measures have been taken has reached 19,733,” Police Col. Adel Mahjoub Al-Zubair, director of the state’s Migration Monitoring and Control Department, said in a statement.

He said authorities conducted 156 campaigns to control the presence of foreigners between July 31 and Oct. 15, detaining 7,914 irregular foreigners. Of those, 1,298 were tried under the Passport Law.

Al-Zubair added that 2,721 foreigners were deported through the Joda crossing to South Sudan and the Gallabat crossing to Ethiopia, as well as via ports in Halfa and Port Sudan.

The transfers have raised humanitarian concerns, with Khartoum and Gezira states moving thousands of foreigners to border camps amid complaints of forced deportations of some South Sudanese refugees and that mothers were separated from their children.

Al-Zubair said authorities also implemented a voluntary return program and coordinated with the Commission of Refugees to relocate others to camps. He noted that 442 refugees arrested during the campaigns were handed over to the specialized court for foreigners.

As part of the effort to formalize the status of migrants, Khartoum state has registered 2,146 foreigners and issued 1,931 transit permits to those residing legally, he said.

Police Lt. Col. Mohamed Mustafa, the deputy director of field monitoring in Karari locality, said his units conduct three to four campaigns per week, targeting areas with a high concentration of foreigners, such as buildings under construction and outlying neighborhoods.

“They do not carry documents proving their legal entry into the country, hold no residence permits, and some lack any migration documents,” Mustafa said, adding that many of those detained had been living and working in Sudan for long periods while residing in unfinished or abandoned buildings.

The Migration Control Department investigates detained foreigners to determine their nationality, age, and length of stay before filing charges against them.