Khartoum's reopening to United Nations flights shifts relief dynamics, giving humanitarian agencies aerial access to millions cut off since fighting began in April 2023. The flight, the first to land in the capital since the nearly three-year war began, arrived from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan said, a practical change with immediate regional consequences.
Since April 2023, Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have fought a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced about 11 million people. Khartoum was overrun early in the war by the RSF and only began to recover after the army retook the capital in March last year. The airport was badly damaged in the fighting and served as one of the RSF's last strongholds during the army's offensive to reclaim the city.
Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator, stepped off the plane and underlined the operational impact. "I'd like to reiterate how pleased I am to have taken the first United Nations Humanitarian Air Service flight to Khartoum in three years," she said. "It's a big deal for the humanitarian community." Brown added that air travel across Sudan, a huge country, will "facilitate our work."
