Sudan’s Khartoum has been receiving first aid convoys since the start of the war

For the first time since the beginning of the civil war in April 2023, a convoy with food aid arrived in the capital of Sudan, Khartoum.

The country is currently experiencing “the world’s worst hunger crisis”, according to the UN, as a result of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF).

When aid trucks arrived in southern Khartoum on Thursday, there were “tears of laughter and joy”, aid worker Duaa Tariq told the BBC.

Aid agencies have long complained that security threats and roadblocks set up by warring parties are hampering the delivery of vital supplies.

In order for Thursday’s breakthrough to happen, UN agencies and Sudanese civil society groups have been negotiating with the army and paramilitary rapid support forces.

“There were tears, tears of laughter and tears of joy and tears because of the effort and exhaustion of organizing it… it was a wonderful moment,” Ms Tariq, who works with the Sudanese humanitarian group Emergency Response Rooms, told the BBC.

There were 28 trucks in the convoy. UNICEF, which sent five vehicles, said it was able to deliver “life-saving” food and medical supplies to Al Bashayer Hospital and other health facilities in Khartoum.

“Here in Khartoum, (we are in) desperate need of this help. We have been waiting for her and we have tried so many ways and methods to get around this, but the only way to help reduce the effect of the famine in Khartoum now is to get this help,” Ms Tariq said.

A few days before, an independent panel of food safety experts warned that Sudan is sliding towards a “widening famine crisis”.

About half of the population – 24.6 million people – are in urgent need of food assistance, according to the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC).

The army and RSF jointly staged a coup in 2021, but a power struggle between their commanders plunged the country into civil war 20 months ago.

In May, the US special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, said some estimates put the death toll in the conflict at up to 150,000.

More than 11 million people were forced to leave their homes.

Various mediation efforts to end the conflict between the army and the RSF have so far failed.