Fourth humanitarian route from Sudan to S. Sudan to open this month: UN

November 24, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The United Nations said a fourth corridor would be opened in late November to deliver humanitarian assistance from Sudan to the needy population in South Sudan.

“A fourth humanitarian corridor from El Obeid to Aweil, enabling the movement of humanitarian assistance from Sudan to South Sudan, will become operational in late November for the first time,” said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its weekly bulletin.

According to OCHA, trial delivery of 500 metric tonnes has been loaded and will commence upon final clearance from the Sudanese government.

It pointed out that there are currently four corridors that deliver humanitarian supplies to South Sudan from Sudan.

“But only three have been in use in 2017, including Renk and Bentiu in South Sudan and Nazareth in Ethiopia, which the World Food Programme (WFP) uses for airdrops from Gambila into affected areas of South Sudan,” said OCHA.

It added the WFP in 2017 delivered 42,557 out of 97,259 metric tonnes over the past three years to over 1.2 million people facing acute hunger in South Sudan.

In July 2014, Juba and Khartoum signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to open a humanitarian corridor to deliver food assistance to vulnerable South Sudanese through the River Nile or by road. Last January, the agreement was extended for a six month period.

On 30 June, the WFP began providing food assistance to South Sudan using a new corridor to transport food items overland from El Obeid in central Sudan to Bentiu in South Sudan’s Unity state.

South Sudan became the world’s newest nation after declaring independence from Sudan in 2011.

However, in 2013 the country was plunged into civil war killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions.

(ST)