Face of the Truth | Ibrahim Shaglawi From Security to Development…

Regarding stability in Khartoum State, let us open this article with an important question: Can we move from the logic of control to the horizon of development? Cities emerging from conflict often fall into the trap of feeling reassured by firm security stability, while the sustainable stability produced by urban development lags behind.

Security, at the moment of war, was an existential necessity beyond dispute. However, the continuation of an emergency mindset after the battles subside carries its own risks. A capital governed through a purely security lens may succeed in reducing crime rates, yet it remains vulnerable to latent fragility if this is not accompanied by the reactivation of the urban economy, restoration of services, and rebuilding of citizens’ trust.

Therefore, the required shift is not to displace security nor to rely solely upon it, but to reposition it within a broader equation led by social and economic development.

In this context, last week’s experience in Karari locality reveals one aspect of structural fragility in the management of urban services. Simultaneous power and water outages occurred due to the direct linkage between the operation of Al-Manara station and the stability of electricity supply. This closed loop practically means that any disruption in the energy sector immediately turns into a water crisis affecting citizens’ daily lives—an old and discouraging pattern that does not align with the requirements of the recovery phase.

Breaking this linkage has become both a developmental and political necessity. Introducing a supportive solar energy system for Al-Manara station, providing high-capacity backup generators, or adopting a hybrid operational model combining the national grid with alternative energy are all practical options that could ensure a minimum level of continuity and shift service management from crisis logic to stability and recovery.

The impact of outages does not stop at water and basic services; it extends to the bakery sector, where electricity and water cuts have become directly associated with halted bread production and the reappearance of citizens’ queues.

This syndrome reveals that service security in the capital remains fragile and that supply chains among vital sectors still operate in a traditionally intertwined manner without sufficient safety valves.

Bakeries constitute a sensitive link in the social and security stability system. When they stop due to disruptions in electricity, water, or gas, the effect goes beyond bread to the public mood and citizens’ confidence in the state’s ability to manage daily service systems. Hence emerges the need for a preventive and well-structured regulatory transition that does not merely react after queues form and crises cascade.

It is therefore important for the competent authorities to review licensing and approval conditions for bakeries so that a minimum level of backup infrastructure is required, including adequate water storage and alternative energy systems (solar or generators) to ensure operational continuity during emergencies. Such an approach protects operational stability while simultaneously easing pressure on the state in times of crisis.

Recently, the cooking gas crisis has added a new dimension of livelihood pressure on citizens. Supply disruptions reveal fragility in the management of procurement, transport, and distribution systems, as well as weak administrative oversight mechanisms, leaving households facing a direct threat to their daily subsistence—something that ultimately reflects on overall stability.

Alongside restoring services and stabilizing economic activity, the aesthetic dimension of reconstruction remains an ongoing challenge. Life has returned to Khartoum, and services have begun to flow—albeit below ambition—but the urban scene still bears the war’s scars in a manner shocking to the visual and aesthetic sensibility.

Damaged buildings and shattered facades remind citizens daily of the scale of destruction left by the war and affect their sense of belonging to their city. Therefore, reconstruction is not merely about restoring services; it requires a comprehensive vision for urban beautification that includes rebuilding damaged structures, rehabilitating facades, and preparing public spaces in ways that make the capital visually acceptable and psychologically comforting for citizens, thereby strengthening their sense of belonging to both city and state.

In an important sign of commendable movement toward readjusting the urban environment, the expanded meeting of Khartoum locality yesterday issued a package of decisions to regularize the status of markets affected by the war and determine their suitability for resuming daily activity.

The meeting, chaired by the locality’s Executive Director Abdel Moneim Al-Bashir and attended by representatives of the concerned committee, included an assessment of the engineering, legal, security, and regulatory conditions of the markets. It also reviewed traders’ documentation status and incorporated citizens’ views regarding their need for services or available alternatives. The meeting further directed that engineering studies be conducted for destroyed markets to determine whether they should be removed, repaired, or rebuilt, with appropriate alternatives provided for workers.

These promising measures represent an important step. However, the shift from security to development will not be complete if it is limited to restoring services and infrastructure. Sustainable recovery stands on two inseparable wings: economic development and social development.

 Post-conflict societies suffer both material and social devastation and an expansion of urban poverty. Without addressing these complex dimensions, recovery remains fragile at its core, even if it appears rapid on the surface.

In conclusion, according to #Face_of_the_Truth, Khartoum stands at a pivotal moment. It can either remain a secured capital living on the edge of emergency, moving between electricity, water, bread, and gas crises, or succeed in an orderly transition toward a comprehensive developmental model that restores the functional meaning of the state in people’s lives. The difference between the two paths is not made by a firm security grip or by resource abundance, but by clarity of vision, an integrated strategy, and the courage to move from crisis management to building sustainable economic and social systems.

 Security halts disorder, but development is what restores life’s enduring pulse and grants the capital its true capacity to be the center of a state—not merely a city that survived war.

Wishing you continued health and well-being.

Saturday, 28 February 2026

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