Aid chief outlines challenges of Saudi humanitarian efforts in war-torn Sudan

Agency KSrelief has sent $76-million worth of aid to the country since the start of the civil war in April last year

Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah with Director General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom. SPA

In Sudan's civil war, as warring factions battle for control, aid organisations like the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), a Saudi government agency, navigate the constantly shifting landscape to deliver vital supplies to those in need.

The conflict has left over 40,000 dead, displaced over eight million people, and pushed the nation to the brink of famine amid a cholera outbreak. Despite the need for humanitarian aid, relief efforts in the country have been hindered by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which started in April last year.

“The civil war in Sudan has been characterised by the shifting nature of the main conflict zones, making it increasingly difficult for aid organisations to maintain access to the same land routes,” KSrelief's supervisor-general and world-renowned paediatric surgeon Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah told The National on Monday.

Aid organisations have become increasingly reliant on sea and air bridges, which KSrelief has used to deliver its shipments, Dr Al Rabeeah explained, outlining the numerous challenges they face in Sudan.

KSrelief has sent 13 planes and 31 ships carrying essential supplies to Port Sudan since the conflict began, providing relief items, for “health assistance, shelters, food security and water sanitation” costing over $76 million.

Aid Corridors

The agency's efforts have been closely co-ordinated with the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has played a vital role in ceasefire talks between the warring parties. As part of these diplomatic efforts, KSrelief has worked to increase aid deliveries during periods of relative calm, capitalising on the kingdom's position as a main mediator in the conflict.

Despite these efforts, the unpredictability of the fighting has severely endangered the lives of humanitarian workers, many of whom have died or been forced to flee embattled regions of Sudan.

The opening of humanitarian corridors has been a crucial aspect of aid delivery in Sudan, but it has been a challenging task. The SAF and RSF have clashed over access to these corridors, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. The RSF controls two corridors, one on Sudan's border with Chad and another near the country’s border with South Sudan.

A third corridor is controlled by the SAF and charts a path from Port Sudan in the east to a land terminal in the town of Al Dabbah, in Sudan’s Northern Province, and then west to Darfur where some of the heaviest fighting is taking place

The Adre corridor, which connects Sudan to Chad, is the only one that has been fully opened through an agreement on both sides to allow some aid to reach the Darfur region. The other two, though used often, remain a subject of dispute.

Delivery of aid through the Adre corridor has been slow and inconsistent, with both sides accusing each other of obstructing the flow of aid.

“We are appreciative towards both parties in the conflict that they agreed to open the Adre corridor, and I can tell you one of the first convoys in co-ordination with UNHCR that crossed into Sudan through Adre was KSrelief's,” Dr Al Rabeeah said. “We delivered two out of the six aid trucks which have thus far been allowed in since the opening of the corridor.”

KSrelief has also made use of the Al Dabbah corridor north of Sudan. Port Sudan has become the new administrative base for the SAF after it lost the capital, Khartoum, to the RSF earlier this year. The city also serves as a base of operations for KS Relief, which co-operates closely with Sudanese government agencies, including its Health Ministry, to carry out relief efforts in various parts of the country.

However, more humanitarian corridors need to be opened to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in Sudan, Dr Al Rabeeah said.

KSrelief maintains liaisons with both SAF and RSF leadership, which gives the centre an advantage when it comes to distributing aid, due to the neutral position that Saudi Arabia has adopted since the start of the war.

“Saudi Arabia has thus far remained neutral, and it has tried to address both sides in terms of political solutions. This is why we are trusted by both sides because we address the humanitarian needs irrespective of the region and who governs that region. Our aim is to deliver aid to the people of Sudan wherever they are,” Dr Al Rabeeah said.

But, the politicisation of aid has been a significant challenge in Sudan. Dr Al Rabeeah said that despite their best efforts, it has been impossible to avoid aid being used as a political tool in the Sudan war, either to punish detractors of one side of the conflict or as a reward for its supporters.

“It's what we call the political diversion of humanitarian aid. We must be careful not to be distracted by politics and focus on the more urgent humanitarian needs. I would be lying if I said that all the aid we send to Sudan makes it into the hands of the people, but we work very hard to ensure that the vast majority is fairly distributed and not caught up in the local politics,” he said.

Beyond the immediate challenges of delivering aid, Dr Al Rabeeah warned of the psychological toll of the war on the millions whose lives have been ruined by the fighting.

“The politicians of Sudan are creating misery for women, children and old people. It is truly painful to see how many children have been lost and how many women have been attacked or abused, this is something that is deeply traumatic to all of us humanitarians and to me personally as a doctor,” he said.

“Children, when they are exposed to conflicts, bombing, and fighting, we are talking about years of trauma that is not easy to remove. When the conflict stops, we are going to face many years of psychological counselling for the trauma of the conflict on the families and children who have been exposed to gunfire and explosions.”

The challenges faced by aid organisations in Sudan serve as a stark reminder of the complexity of providing humanitarian assistance in a war-torn country and the urgent need for a political solution in Sudan.

As the conflict continues to ravage Sudan, Dr Al Rabeeah urged for more humanitarian corridors to be opened and for the international community to pay more attention to the escalating situation in the Horn of Africa.