Nine Egyptians freed after being held for 19 months by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces arrived in Egypt to celebrations on Thursday morning as the Sudanese army advanced in Khartoum.
Maged Moawad receives a hug from his daughter and children to congratulate him on his return to his home village of Abo Shanab, in the city of Fayoum, Egypt, March 6, 2025. Nine Egyptians, freed after being held for 19 months by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, arrived in Egypt as the Sudanese army advanced in Khartoum, Sudan. Reuters/Shokry Hussein
Nine Egyptians freed after being held for 19 months by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces arrived in Egypt to celebrations on Thursday morning as the Sudanese army advanced in Khartoum.
"Praise be to God. A new age begins for us today. Our life starts anew from today," said Ahmed Aziz Masry surrounded by dozens of people who came to congratulate him on his return to the village of Abo Shanab.
Residents flooded the streets of the village, 110 km (70 miles) southwest of Cairo, home to seven of the freed captives.
Sudan has been at war since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the army and the RSF over disagreements ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. The war has caused a humanitarian disaster, with mass displacement and widespread hunger.
A UN report published on Thursday found "a widespread pattern of arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment of detainees" by both the RSF and the Sudanese army.
The freed Egyptian captives had been working in Khartoum for years importing household goods and small electric appliances.
One, Emad Moawad, told Reuters he had a plane ticket to return to Egypt after the fighting started, but the airport was closed. "Sixty-five days later, the RSF raided our house and held us captive for over 19 months."
Masry said the RSF falsely accused them of spying for the Egyptian intelligence service.
"Every few months, they would tell us they are releasing us but then put a blindfold on our heads and send us to another prison," Masry said. At their fifth prison, the warden summoned Masry to his office to answer a phone call, and the voice on the other end said the situation had been resolved.
"A few weeks ago, they drove us to the last point controlled by the RSF and from there to the Sudanese Army, which took us to the Egyptian embassy then to Cairo."
The war has drawn in multiple foreign powers, with the RSF accusing Egypt of aiding the army while the army accuses the United Arab Emirates of arming the RSF.
On April 15, 2026, the war in Sudan entered its fourth year, a grim milestone that passed largely unnoticed, overshadowed by conflicts elsewhere. Yet the United Nations has called it unequivocally the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Germany pledged a further 20 million euros ($23.6 million) to Sudan this year, the development ministry said on Wednesday, ahead of an international aid conference hosted in Berlin that is aiming to gather more than $1 billion in funding commitments.
Two arms brokers arranged illegal deals to supply ex-Soviet surface-to-air missile systems to South Sudan and fighter jets to Libya during its civil war, British prosecutors told a London court on Tuesday.
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