"It's a war economy," said Abduljabber Abdellah Fadul, rural planning professor at El Fasher University.
"Historically, El Fasher had a subsistence economy," Fadul said, explaining that most residents eked out a modest living by trading locally made goods and home-grown food. The lack of investment and development was one reason rebels attacked government forces in 2003 in El Fasher, alleging decades of marginalization by the Khartoum government.
If Sudan's capital is enjoying an oil boom thanks to the nation's fast-growing petroleum industry, El Fasher is experiencing what could only be called an aid boom.
Fruit and vegetables from as far away as Iran and South Africa flood the local market. Furniture from China and Indonesia is available downtown. The number of filling stations in town has tripled in three years because of the growing demand of aid groups employing gas-guzzling SUVs. There's even an air-conditioned pizza parlor catering to Westerners.
"People are beginning to think in a more business-minded way," said Adam Ahmed Sliman, an economics analyst in El Fasher. "And for the first time, really, there is an opportunity for people to make some money rather than just getting by day to day."
About three years ago, a stranger working for a German charity knocked on Khalil Adam Abdulkarim's front door and offered a then-eye-popping sum of $1,100 a month to rent his family home.
"I thought, 'Why not,' " said the El Fasher businessman and former government minister. He moved his seven children to a nearby house, paying just $150 a month, and used the profit to build a new house, which he's also thinking about renting.
"This is really changing our lifestyle," he said. "But it's also isolated and isn't really connected to any development plan. It won't last."
He said many of those reaping the benefits of El Fasher's growth are wealthy homeowners like himself or outsiders coming from Khartoum seeking to make their fortune.
"I can earn three times as much here," said Ammar Khalid, a construction engineer from Khartoum whose company is completing a mansion near U.N. headquarters that it hopes to rent for $10,000 a month.
Egyptian entrepreneur Sameer Refat, 33, is making a killing selling Chinese-made filing cabinets and bedroom sets to international aid groups. He also runs a grocery store where one of his most profitable items is something that wasn't available here five years ago: bottled water.
