First Red Cross aid flight arrives in Port Sudan as conflict rages

Hospitals and blood banks are being looted, while more than half of medical facilities are out of service

Workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross prepare medical aid in Amman, before loading it on a plane for Port Sudan. AFP

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An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plane departed from the Jordanian capital Amman, landing in the city of Port Sudan on Sunday as the flow of humanitarian aid to Sudan, now in its 15th day of war, increased.

The flight had an eight-tonne cargo that included surgical supplies for hospitals and volunteers of the Sudan Red Crescent Society, the ICRC said.

“Healthcare workers in Sudan have been doing the impossible, caring for the wounded without water, electricity, and basic medical supplies,” said Patrick Youssef, ICRC’s regional director for Africa.

“The logistics needed to bring in supplies in a conflict are extremely difficult, and we’re relieved to get this medical material into the country.”

Sudan's Doctors' Union said that hospitals and blood banks were being looted, while ambulances were attacked and stopped from reaching their destinations.

More than 65 per cent of hospitals in affected areas were out of service, the union said, and nearly 20 per cent were evacuated.

The ICRC said a second aid flight was being prepared with more medical supplies and emergency personnel, but it did not say when it would leave.

The supplies, including anaesthetics, dressings, sutures and other surgical material, are enough to treat more than 1,000 people, the ICRC said.

“The hope is to get this material to some of the most critically busy hospitals in the capital” of Khartoum and other hot spots, said Mr Youssef.

On Friday, the EU said it had allocated €200,000 ($222,550) to provide relief for people wounded in Khartoum and other conflict areas.

The EU aid will also assist the Sudanese Red Crescent and offer psychosocial support to about 70,000 people in Khartoum, Northern State, North Kordofan, South Darfur and North Darfur, it said.

“We have been receiving reports about loss of life, including the killing of humanitarian workers,” said Janez Lenarcic, EU commissioner for crisis management.

“I strongly urge for full respect for international humanitarian law, protection of civilians and the safety and security of aid workers, premises and assets so that they can provide emergency assistance to those affected.”

Fighting has continued despite the warring paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army agreeing to a renewed 72-hour ceasefire on Friday. Witnesses and residents continue to report breaches in the form of air strikes and shelling.

The ICRC said its teams will need “guarantees of safe passage from the parties to the conflict to deliver this material to medical facilities in locations with active fighting, such as Khartoum”.