A jungle of weeds fills the Sudanese finance ministry's courtyard in central Khartoum, where the army-backed government says it plans a gradual return after nearly three years of war.
Abandoned cars, shattered glass and broken furniture lie beneath vines climbing the red-brick facades, built in the British colonial style that shaped the city's early 20th-century layout.
"The grounds haven't been cleared of mines," a guard warns at the ruined complex, located in an area still classified as "red" or highly dangerous by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
Even as war rages in the southern Kordofan region, Prime Minister Kamil Idris has announced that the government will return to Khartoum after operating from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan some 700 kilometers (440 miles) away for nearly three years.
Main roads have been cleared and cranes now punctuate the skyline of a capital scarred by the war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army, which retook the city last March.
Since then, officials have toured reconstruction sites daily, promising a swift return to normal life.
Government headquarters, including the general secretariat and cabinet offices, have been refurbished. But many ministries remain abandoned, their walls pockmarked by bullets.
The central bank is a blackened shell, its windows blown out. Its management announced last week that operations in Khartoum State would resume, according to the official news agency SUNA.
- 'Still empty' -
At a ruined crossroads nearby, a tea seller has reclaimed her usual spot beneath a large tree.
Halima Ishaq, 52, fled south when the fighting began in April 2023 and came back just three weeks ago.
"Business is not good. The neighborhood is still empty," the mother of five told AFP.
Ishaq earns between 4,000 and 5,000 Sudanese pounds a day, less than two euros and about a third of her pre-war income.
More than a third of Khartoum's nine million residents fled when the RSF seized it in 2023. Over a million have returned since the army retook the city.
The UN estimates that rebuilding infrastructure will cost at least $350 million.
"We sell very little," glazier Abdellah Ahmed told AFP.
"People have no money and the big companies haven't come back yet."
Khartoum's international airport has been renovated, but remains closed after an RSF drone strike last September, just weeks before its planned reopening.
Near the city's ministries, workers clear debris from a gutted bank.
"Everything must be finished in four months," said the site manager.
Optimism is also on display at the Grand Hotel, which once hosted Queen Elizabeth II. Management hopes to welcome guests again by mid-February.
While its chandeliered lobby survived, much of the neo-classical building's rear was destroyed, just a few years after it was renovated during Sudan's oil boom in the late 2000s.
Elsewhere, symbols of Khartoum's former ambitions lie in ruins.
The tower of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, unveiled when the city aspired to become "Africa's Dubai", stands charred and hollow.
Sudan lost half of its oil revenues during the war, on top of losses following South Sudan's secession in 2011, which removed about a third of the country's oil production.
Life is returning more quickly to the commercial districts of Khartoum's twin city Omdurman. On Liberty Street, Khartoum's main commercial avenue, only a few of the looted shops have reopened.
"Many shopkeepers aren't coming back," said Osman Nadir, an appliance seller.
"Suppliers are demanding repayment for goods destroyed during the fighting," added Nadir, who himself faces legal action.
For residents, restoring water and electricity remains the most urgent task.
- Dark streets -
At night, the streets are "dark and deserted," said Taghreed Awad al-Reem Saeed.
"You don't feel safe," the 26-year-old medical intern told AFP.
Men have returned to work alone, leaving their families elsewhere.
"Before I could go with my friends," Saeed said.
"I want my social life back," she added. "Like before."
"Like before and even better than before," hopes former National Theater director Abdel Rafea Hassan Bakhit, a retiree deeply involved in restoring the building.
Near the Nile, volunteers are repairing the National Theater, once graced by performers such as Umm Kulthum and Louis Armstrong.
The stage remains intact, but sound and lighting systems were destroyed. In recent weeks, official visits have multiplied, each bringing fresh promises of aid.
A few kilometers away, workers are clearing fallen trees from the red and yellow stands of Al-Merreikh Stadium, nicknamed "the Red Castle" and home to one of Africa's oldest football clubs.
Burnt-out cars still line the street outside. The pitch has been levelled, but machinery lies idle. The last match was played a week before the war. Since then, the club has competed in Rwanda's top division.
