El Obeid

El Obeid is the capital of North Kordofan state in Sudan, a commercial and transport hub linking western Sudan with the rest of the country, with a population estimated at about 579,571 in 2025 plus roughly 105,000 internally displaced people. The site emerged as a caravan stop under the Musaba'at Kingdom in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the modern settlement was established by Egyptian forces in 1821, destroyed during the Mahdist period, and rebuilt after 1899 under Anglo-Egyptian rule; its growth accelerated after a railway connecting it to Khartoum and Port Sudan opened between 1909 and 1912. El Obeid became known for trading gum arabic, millet, oilseeds and livestock, hosts an oil refinery established in 1996 that processes about 15,000 barrels daily, and is home to the University of Kordofan.