E.U. Flies 110 Tons of Aid to Darfur. But Will It Reach Those In Need?

The European Union has mounted an “air bridge” effort, with at least eight aid flights planned to Sudan. But getting supplies to the areas with the most dire need is an enormous challenge.

More than 110 tons of humanitarian supplies from the European Union and aid organizations reached war-torn Darfur by air on Friday, the first of eight such flights to Sudan planned in the coming weeks to address the severe humanitarian crisis there, the European Commission said on Monday.

A flight on Friday delivered shelter materials, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene items and health supplies to the region, where millions of people have been displaced and are struggling to meet basic needs amid a civil war. Supplies came from the European Union’s humanitarian stockpiles and from partner organizations, and seven more of these flights are planned during this month and January.

The aid operation comes as humanitarian groups have been blocked from reaching civilians in need in parts of Sudan and as millions there are facing increasingly difficult conditions amid a severe and worsening humanitarian crisis. Ensuring help can actually get to those who need it most, even if supplies do arrive in the region, remains a significant challenge.

The Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., a paramilitary group fighting the Sudanese military, in October captured the city of El Fasher, in the western Darfur region, after a 500-day siege that had “reduced people to eating peanut shells and animal feed,” according to the United Nations human rights office. The R.S.F. victory prompted global accusations of abuses by the paramilitary’s fighters, including massacres, torture and rape, often directed at civilians fleeing the city.

Getting aid to those who remain in El Fasher has now become practically impossible, experts say.

“The humanitarian situation in Darfur — one of the world’s hardest places for aid organizations to reach — deteriorated sharply after the fall of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to the Rapid Support Forces in late October,” the European Commission said in its statement on its “air bridge” aid effort. “The loss of the city was a major escalation of an already catastrophic humanitarian situation, and further restricted aid access.”

The latest fighting in Sudan, which erupted in the spring of 2023, has forced more than 12 million people from their homes and killed as many as 400,000 people, by some estimates, and is considered the world’s most severe displacement crisis.

United Nations humanitarian relief groups and other aid organizations, responsible for distributing the international aid for Darfur, say they have been unable to operate in El Fasher, and that they have been negotiating with the R.S.F. for access to the area.

“After more than a year and a half under siege, the essentials for survival have been obliterated: Markets destroyed, health care facilities decimated and basic services wiped out,” said Ross Smith, who leads emergency preparedness for the World Food Program, in a briefing on Friday.

Mr. Smith said that negotiations have led to an “agreement in principle” with the R.S.F. about minimal conditions needed for humanitarian workers to enter the city, and he said he anticipated being able to “very soon” begin initial assessments there. The World Food Program said on Monday that it did not have any updates on the situation.

The R.S.F. did recently allow a trickle of aid to enter El Fasher for the first time since the group captured the city, giving a local humanitarian organization the first outside glimpses into the abysmal conditions there. Malam Darfur Peace and Development said last week that it has been allowed into the city twice this month, delivering food to 1,200 families in shelters and noting that there are severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies and services.

The E.U.’s airborne relief operation, including all flights slated in December and January, will cost 3.5 million euros, or about $4.1 million, with funding coming from the E.U.’s humanitarian budget. The E.U. has channeled over €270 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan this year, or more than $317 million, “making it one of the largest contributors to the response,” the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, said in its statement.

But it is not yet clear that these and other international efforts to alleviate the suffering in Sudan will reach many civilians quickly, or at all, given the R.S.F. track record and the pace of negotiations thus far. In November, senior R.S.F. officials pledged to allow the United Nations into El Fasher for the first time in months to deliver aid and to investigate atrocities, but that has not yet happened.

“Our discussions with the R.S.F. continue,” Eri Kaneko, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in a message on Monday. “We hope to get an initial team into the city as soon as possible to help define our next steps.” Ms. Kaneko added that “El Fasher is the site of grave atrocities and our next moves must shield civilians and humanitarian workers from even greater risk.”

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