Egypt provides free train rides for Sudanese refugees returning home

CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of people who have been displaced by fighting in Sudan gathered Monday at the central train station in Cairo to begin a free journey home.

The Egyptian government is funding train rides to Khartoum, Sudan's capital, which recently was recaptured by the Sudanese Armed Forces from its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

Sudan has been in the throes of civil war since April 2023. The battle for power between the military and the RSF has caused a humanitarian crisis. Over 40,000 people have been killed and the war has caused one of the world’s largest displacement emergencies.

Egypt hosts the largest number of Sudanese refugees from the war with over 1.5 million people who fled north across the border. Over 7 million have been displaced internally as the war engulfed much of the country. The RSF took Khartoum at the start of the fighting in 2023 and held the capital until the government declared its recapture on May 20.

Khartoum was largely destroyed, including the presidential palace and the airport, but is experiencing a slow rebirth as residents return and markets reopen. Electricity and basic services are not fully operational around the city.

The journey from Cairo to Khartoum is about 2,080 kilometers (1,292 miles) and will include a train ride of about 12 hours to the southern Egyptian city of Aswan, where riders will change to ferries and buses to cross into Sudan.

People packed their lives in small suitcases as they as they filled the train Monday. Some cried with “overwhelming emotions” including sadness and joy about leaving Egypt and returning home, said Sudanese journalist Asem al-Taieb, one of the train riders.

“I am happy because I am finally going back to my family and my children,” said Awatef al Hassan, originally from Omdurman, Sudan, who is returning with her daughter.

A Sudanese woman, who was driven from her home and is now returning, is seen though a broken window as she waits for her train to Aswan at Cairo's Ramses railway station, Egypt, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

A Sudanese man, who was driven from his home and is now returning, is seen through a broken window as he prepares to enter his train to Aswan at Cairo's Ramses railway station, Egypt, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese people, who were driven from their homes and are now returning, celebrate as they enter their train to Aswan at Cairo's Ramses railway station, Egypt, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

A Sudanese woman, who was driven from her home and is now returning, prepares to enter her train to Aswan at Cairo's Ramses railway station, Egypt, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

A Sudanese woman and children, who were driven from their homes and are now returning, wait for their train to Aswan at Cairo's Ramses railway station, Egypt, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)