The Truth Face .. Dr.Ibrahim Shaglawi .. Reopen Khartoum Airport… Diplomatic Missions Will Return

The Truth Face | Ibrahim Shaglawi

Reopen Khartoum Airport… Diplomatic Missions Will Return

Since the government resumed its work from the national capital, Khartoum, last week, notable movements by Prime Minister Dr. Kamel Idris have emerged. His visits included universities, health facilities, electricity and water utilities, security institutions, Sufi orders, and community figures—an important signal that rebuilding the state is not confined to authority alone, but is restored through society in all its active layers and formations.

However, when politics is measured by development standards, it is tested by infrastructure. Here, the importance of Khartoum Airport emerges as a functional node that demands attention. Announcing readiness and circulating images of completed works by journalists or activists remains an incomplete act unless translated into an operational decision that receives international flights.

In the logic of international relations and the calculations of political and diplomatic action, for the Prime Minister to invite diplomatic missions and international organizations back to Khartoum while the main air gateway remains non-operational is a matter that requires reconsideration.

As we know, operating the airport is a sovereign developmental act of the highest importance..

It automatically opens the door to the return of diplomatic missions and foreign organizations, the resumption of activities, and reconnecting Khartoum to its regional and international surroundings.

Yes, the return of major hotels—according to the Prime Minister’s inspection tours—such as Rotana, Canon, and others, are indicators of the revival of economic circulation, the restoration of the administrative environment, and the preparation of the capital to host events. But they are not sufficient.

Likewise, the government’s resumption of its work from Khartoum carries a positive message: the center is no longer susceptible to paralysis, and the idea of a mobile state has lost its justification. However, the international system, with its experience with post-conflict states, does not treat these messages as completed facts, but as hypotheses under testing. The fundamental question is not from where the government operates, but the confidence in the continuity of that operation.

In this context, gateways represent the cornerstone of the political and security recovery equation. The airport is not merely a travel portal, but one of the most sensitive manifestations of sovereignty, as it reflects the state’s ability to control its air borders, regulate entry and exit, and secure the space of movement upon which all forms of diplomatic and economic presence are built. A state that does not operate its capital’s airport in a stable and secure manner remains with incomplete sovereignty, regardless of the strength of its political discourse.

The previous experience of diplomatic missions in Khartoum reveals a consistent pattern of caution that has accompanied them. Even during periods of security stability, these missions did not extend beyond a limited geographical that ensured quick and direct access to the airport without structural obstacles, foremost among them bridges. This behavior reflects strict adherence to a globally agreed security doctrine that views time as a critical factor and clarity of evacuation routes as a condition that does not accept delay or political interpretation.

Accordingly, calling for the return of missions before the actual, secure operation of Khartoum Airport, and before securing its surroundings and connecting routes, places political rhetoric in confrontation with practical reality. Contemporary diplomacy, shaped by its experience in Beirut, Baghdad, Tripoli, and elsewhere, no longer measures cities by their ability to absorb danger, but by their ability to reduce it and prevent it from turning into a sudden condition.

However, sovereignty in its modern meaning is not confined to security control alone. A capital managed with a barracks mentality, even if secure, does not constitute an attractive environment for long-term diplomatic presence. Hence, the return of hotels, restaurants, cafés, and social recreational clubs acquires political significance no less important than checkpoints and security barriers. These spaces reproduce public life, restore the city’s rhythm, and create what can be called “livable and enjoyable stability,” a fundamental condition in the calculations of diplomatic missions and international organizations.

Reactivating these sectors, especially within the geographical area close to the airport, is considered an important strategic option. It reduces the need for long movements, limits security risks, and simultaneously creates an economic cycle that reconnects the local community with the recovery project.

Here, daily life transforms into a soft political tool that supports security rather than contradicts it, and grants the state a social ally instead of leaving it an anxious spectator.

Within this framework, the return of diplomatic missions becomes a logical outcome rather than an exceptional decision. When the airport operates regularly, routes are secured, and the city regains its minimum level of vitality, the pleas and the question “When will the missions return?” disappear, replaced by another, more telling question: How will these missions reorganize their presence and effectiveness in a capital that has restored its basic functions?

The real wager, therefore, does not lie in hastening the return, but in building its conditions calmly and wisely. A state that restores its sovereignty through word and deed does not ask for recognition; it creates it. And Khartoum, if this file is managed with a sound developmental political mind, is capable of returning as a capital to which the world is not summoned, but to which it returns once it is convinced that the city has moved beyond the moment of announcement to the stage of capability and production.

According to #The_Truth_Face, the return of Khartoum is not measured by the number of tours or the intensity of calls, but by the state’s ability to activate its vital joints: an operating airport, welcoming hotels, functioning institutions, and a protected environment. Only then do missions return of their own accord—not in response to an invitation, but in recognition that the capital has regained its minimum level of readiness. In this sense, operating Khartoum Airport becomes an important political act, because it shortens the distance between declared recovery and possible recovery, and places Sudan on the threshold of effective and influential return.

Wishing you continued health and well-being.

Tuesday, 20 January 2026

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