UAE sends 50 tonnes of medical supplies to Sudan

Aid includes a wide range of trauma and emergency surgery supplies

UAE aid to Sudan arrives at Port Sudan airport. All photos: AFP

A plane carrying aid from the UAE lands in the crisis-hit country

Workers load aid supplies from the UAE and the World Health Organisation at Abu Dhabi International Airport

Aid is offloaded at Port Sudan airport

Air strikes and gunfire continue to rock Sudanese capital Khartoum

Another UAE plane carrying urgent food supplies landed at Abeche Airport on Chad’s border with Sudan on May 2

Fighting shows no signs of abating despite the threat of renewed US sanctions

The are concerns the fighting will develop into a protracted conflict

A third Emirati plane has arrived at Port Sudan airport carrying 50 tonnes of urgent medical supplies to help with trauma and emergency surgery in Sudan.

The medical supplies include medicines such as antibiotics, non-steroidal drugs, anti-inflammatories, medical wound dressings, gauze packs, wound debridement kits and surgical tapes.

The UAE is among the first countries to initiate direct aid to Sudan.

In co-operation with the World Health Organisation the UAE has already sent two aircraft to Sudan, one carrying 30 tonnes of urgent medical supplies and the other 30 tonnes of food aid.

Emergency medical supplies for about 165,000 people arrived in Port Sudan from Dubai by plane on Saturday and will be delivered to 13 health facilities, the WHO said on Saturday.

The shipment of 30 tonnes, including trauma and emergency surgical equipment, is one of the first to arrive in the country since conflict broke out in mid-April, although distribution will depend on “security and access clearances”, the WHO said.

Port Sudan has been spared the fighting and has become one of the few safe points out of the country, whether by air or by ship crossing the Red Sea to Jeddah.

An evacuation plane arrived in the UAE on Saturday carrying 176 citizens from seven countries and a number of international media professionals from Sudan.

The UAE said it was continuing the process of prioritising the evacuation of the most vulnerable groups, including the sick, children, the elderly and women.

The Emirates will host evacuees and provide them with support and assistance before their safe transfer to their home countries.

Fighting could be heard in south Khartoum on Sunday as envoys from Sudan's warring parties were in Saudi Arabia for talks that international mediators hope will bring an end to a three-week conflict.

The US-Saudi initiative is the first serious attempt to end fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has turned parts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum into war zones and derailed an internationally backed plan to usher in civilian rule following years of unrest and uprisings.

Confirming his group's attendance, RSF leader Gen Mohamed Dagalo said he hoped the talks would achieve their intended aim of securing safe passage for civilians.

He has vowed to either capture or kill army leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and there was also evidence on the ground that both sides remain unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed.