KHARTOUM

Capital of Sudan

The Three Towns—Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North—together comprise the political, commercial, and administrative center for Sudan. Located where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to flow north toward Egypt, the capital city is the largest urban complex in the country. Its population of 850,000 in 1980 swelled to nearly 4 million by 2002, as the result of the influx of migrants from drought areas in the west and displaced persons from the war-torn south. Their immigration has transformed the character of the Three Towns from largely Arab, with Nubian enclaves, into a polyglot mix of peoples and cultures.