Aid airlift to rebel-held South Kordofan through Juba begins

Sudan’s Ambassador to South Sudan Essam El-Din Mohammed speaks to reporters in Juba on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. (Radio Tamazuj)

The airlift of humanitarian aid has begun to Sudan’s South Kordofan State through South Sudan, a Sudanese diplomat said.

The diplomat said on Tuesday that the airlift was aimed at alleviating the suffering in the rebel-held territory.

“UN agencies have begun to airlift thousands of tonnes of food items and medicines to rebel-held areas in South Kordofan through the Juba International Airport,” Sudan’s Ambassador to South Sudan Essam El-Din Mohammed Hassan Karar said at a press conference in Juba.

Karar s pointed out that the move followed a recent meeting between Sudan’s ruling council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir.

He pointed out that the aid was destined for Kadugli, and the Julud, held by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). The SPLM-N declared a famine in areas it controls in South Kordofan earlier this year.

The Ambassador said the airlift demonstrated the government’s commitment to the international humanitarian law and its responsibility to ensuring its citizens have access to food and medicine.

“As you know, Julud is under the control of the SPLM-N but we consider the humanitarian need of the people within the Sudan territory. We thank the government of South Sudan for accepting to open Juba airport to allow aid delivery to South Kordofan State,” he said.

Peace talks between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N rebels, mediated by South Sudan, stalled in May.

A devastating conflict erupted in Sudan in April 2023 following a disagreement between the army’s head, Gen al-Burhan, and RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, over an internationally backed political plan to towards civilian rule.

As well as displacing millions, the conflict has left a number of areas including the capital Khartoum in ruins, caused a humanitarian crisis and triggered ethnically driven killings in Darfur, in the west of the country.