The United Arab Emirates said on Monday it would provide USD30 million in emergency humanitarian aid to civilians in Sudan’s El Obeid, as fighting around the North Kordofan state capital continues to displace residents and cut off basic services.
The funding was announced under directives from President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and will be channelled through the UAE Aid Agency, the state news agency WAM reported. The agency said the package reflects the Gulf state’s continued humanitarian engagement with Sudan since civil war broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023.
Conditions in El Obeid and nearby areas have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks, with civilians and displaced people facing shortages of food, clean water, healthcare and shelter, according to the UAE statement. The city, a strategic hub in central Sudan, has come under increasing pressure as fighting has intensified in the region.
Abu Dhabi called for an immediate and coordinated humanitarian response to ensure aid reaches the most vulnerable groups, and repeated its appeal for the protection of civilians in El Obeid and across Sudan to be treated as an urgent international priority.
The UAE urged all parties to the conflict to abide by international humanitarian law, refrain from escalating violence in populated areas, and allow aid to move quickly and without obstruction. It also reiterated that the war cannot be resolved militarily and called for a Sudanese-led civilian political process aimed at securing lasting peace and preserving the country’s unity.
Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, minister of state and a member of the International Humanitarian and Philanthropic Council, said the latest package reflected the UAE leadership’s focus on placing civilians at the centre of its relief efforts. He said protecting civilians, opening safe humanitarian corridors and meeting the needs of displaced people, particularly women, children, the elderly and the sick, must remain the immediate priority.
He added that the UAE has provided roughly USD800 million in humanitarian assistance to Sudan since the conflict began, supporting refugees, displaced people and communities affected by the fighting inside the country and in neighbouring states.
Tareq Ahmed Al Ameri, chairman of the UAE Aid Agency, said the new funding forms part of the country’s commitments to support humanitarian response plans coordinated with the United Nations and its partners. He said the money would go toward food assistance, healthcare, shelter and support for refugees and displaced people both inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries.
Sudan’s war has triggered one of the world’s largest displacement crises, with millions forced from their homes and swathes of the country facing famine conditions, according to United Nations agencies. Aid groups have repeatedly warned that access to besieged areas, including cities in North Kordofan and Darfur, remains severely restricted.
The UAE has faced scrutiny from Sudan’s army-aligned government and some Western researchers over allegations that it has supplied weapons to the Rapid Support Forces, a charge Abu Dhabi has denied. It has consistently framed its involvement in Sudan as humanitarian.
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