November 26, Nairobi – Sudan’s military leader authorized the United Nations to use three airports in Sudan to deliver aid, the ruling Sovereign Council said on Monday.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council, has allowed UN organizations to use airports of Kadugli in South Kordofan state, El Obeid in North Kordofan, and Damazin in Blue Nile region as “humanitarian hubs for storing relief materials,” the council said in a statement. UN staff will be allowed to travel with aid convoys and oversee distribution.
Sudan is in dire need of humanitarian aid amid the ongoing conflict. On Monday, Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that most of Sudan is starving.
“All that I saw confirms that this is indeed the biggest humanitarian emergency on our watch, the biggest hunger crisis, the biggest displacement crisis,” Mr Egeland told the BBC, following a trip to Sudan.
In his first field visit to Sudan, the new UN relief chief Tom Fletcher also appealed to the authorities to increase access for relief workers. He said the crisis is one of “staggering proportions and it demands the world’s urgent attention.”
Fletcher also called for an increase in funding. The UN’s humanitarian response plan for Sudan this year received $1.52 billion, out of a requested $2.7 billion. The UN is expected to announce its 2025 humanitarian response plan in early December.
The U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, said the decision was welcomed. “With this decision & the announcement of regular humanitarian flights to additional areas in Sudan, we call on all authorities & humanitarian partners to move quickly to implement key famine response & prevention activities, including in hard-hit areas such as Khartoum, Zalingei, and Sennar,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.