For the first time since the outbreak of the civil war in April 2023, a convoy with food aid has arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The country is currently facing the “world’s worst hunger crisis”, according to the United Nations, due to fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
As trucks full of aid rolled into southern Khartoum on Thursday, there were “tears of laughter and joy”, humanitarian aid worker Duaa Tariq told the BBC.
Aid agencies have long complained that security threats and roadblocks — erected by the warring sides — have hampered crucial deliveries.
To achieve Thursday’s breakthrough, UN agencies and Sudanese community groups negotiated with the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“There were tears, tears of laughter and joy and tears of a lot of effort and exhaustion in sorting this out… it was quite a moment,” Ms Tariq, who works with Sudanese humanitarian group Emergency Response Rooms, told the BBC program Newsday. .
The convoy consisted of 28 trucks. Unicef - which sent five of the vehicles – said it could deliver “life-saving” food and healthcare supplies to Al Bashayer Hospital and other health facilities in Khartoum.
“Here in Khartoum, [we are in] this help is urgently needed. We have been waiting for it and we have tried so many ways and methods to get around this, but the only way to help reduce the famine effect in Khartoum right now is to receive this aid,” Ms. Tariq said.
Just days earlier, an independent group of food security experts warned that Sudan was sliding into a “spreading famine crisis.”
About half of the population – 24.6 million people – are in urgent need of food aid, according to the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC).
The army and the RSF had jointly staged a coup in 2021, but a power struggle between their commanders plunged the country into civil war 20 months ago.
In May, US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello said some estimates suggested as many as 150,000 people had been killed in the conflict.
More than 11 million people have been driven from their homes.
Several mediation attempts aimed at ending the conflict between the army and the RSF have so far failed.
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