Sudan: conflict-stricken Khartoum receives first aid convoy since start of civil war

An aid convoy carrying vital food and medical supplies has arrived in a besieged area of Sudanese capital Khartoum for the first time since the country’s civil war broke out in April 2023, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), which provided 22 trucks loaded with 750 tonnes of food.

A total of 28 trucks arrived in southern Khartoum last week, bringing food and medicines for as many as 200,000 families in a war-torn country where half of the people are at risk of starvation, say aid groups and local volunteers. The first aid convoy in more than one and half year reached the conflict-stricken capital after UN agencies and Sudanese community groups negotiated a safe passage with the warring army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The convoy, organized by the UN and humanitarian agencies, also included five trucks from UNICEF carrying medicines, and one truck from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and CARE.

The ongoing civil war has left around half of Sudan’s population — about 24.6 million people — in desperate need of food. Previous attempts to deliver humanitarian aid have been hindered by security threats and roadblocks set up by the two warring sides. “Access to the area has been essentially cut off due the conflict dynamics. It took three months of often daily negotiations with government authorities at all levels and with other parties who controlled the access,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEC’s Sudan representative. Sudan’s armed forces have been fighting the paramilitary RSF since April last year, when a power struggle between the two factions of the military regime broke out into open conflict.