Khartoum hosts youth sports festival in rare show of public life amid war

Athletes compete in a running event during the Khartoum Youth Sports Festival in the Sudanese capital on January 1, 2026. 

Photo credit: Xinhua

Sudan on Thursday launched the Khartoum Youth Sports Festival under the slogan “Together We Make Life,” marking the country’s 70th independence anniversary and offering a rare glimpse of public life nearly three years into the nation’s civil war.

The festival reflects the capital’s gradual recovery and represents the first nationwide, large-scale event since fighting erupted in mid-April 2023.