Sudan: Airlift to boost food-aid operation in Darfur

To bolster its efforts to bring much-needed food to residents in remote areas, the ICRC has launched a two-month airlift out of Khartoum.

The airlift commenced on 4 June and is scheduled to last for two months. An ICRC-chartered Ilyushin 76 is making two flights a day – one to Nyala and one to El Fasher – six days a week. From there, the food – consisting mainly of sorghum, lentils and cooking oil – will be trucked into rural Darfur, where whole communities continue to be in seriously short supply. In all, some 4,000 tonnes are scheduled to be delivered by air for the benefit of over 220,000 people. This operation supplements the year-long ICRC food distribution already under way in Darfur.

Several factors prompted this decision, chief among them dwindling supplies and the growing number of people dependent on food aid. The situation is aggravated by growing insecurity on the roads from Khartoum to Darfur, where attacks on aid convoys are increasing.   In addition, the approaching rainy season, while welcomed by Darfur's farmers, poses serious logistical challenges as road conditions deteriorate, hampering the delivery of food aid.

The airlift will ensure that the ICRC's food-aid operation continues unabated and that the people of Darfur receive the relief they so badly need, regardless of worsening weather and banditry. If it judges necessary, the ICRC will extend the operation, estimated to cost about 2.2 million US dollars, for an additional month.

 For further information, please contact:  

 Paul Conneally, ICRC Khartoum, +249 912 170576 (mobile)  

 Arabic Speaking Media: Adil Sherif, ICRC Khartoum, +249 912 161493 (mobile)  

 Marco Yuri Jiménez Rodríguez, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 2271