UAE- WFP sign cooperation agreement to support humanitarian efforts in Sudan

 

Aid Agency chairman Dr Tareq Ahmed Al Ameri, Bashar Al Hammami, Head of the WFP Partnership Office in the UAE and Rashid Salem Al Shamsi, Executive Director of Logistics Support at the Agency witnessed the signing of the agreement. [Courtesy]

The United Arab Emirates aid agency has signed a cooperation agreement with the United Nations World Food Program aimed at supporting humanitarian efforts in Sudan.

Under the agreement, the UAE will provide a grant of US$20 million to help accelerate emergency response efforts in Sudan by delivering food assistance to populations affected by the conflict and addressing urgent food security needs of vulnerable groups, including displaced people in host communities.

Aid Agency chairman Dr Tareq Ahmed Al Ameri affirmed the UAE’s continued commitment to its global humanitarian leadership in providing urgent relief to alleviate the suffering caused by the conflict in Sudan.

He emphasised the importance of meeting essential food needs for displaced populations within Sudan as well as in neighbouring host countries, including Chad, South Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

He further highlighted the shared international and moral responsibility to address challenges in famine-affected and high-risk areas, underscoring the necessity of delivering life-saving humanitarian assistance in crises.

His sentiments were reiterated by Bashar Al Hammami, Head of the WFP Partnership Office in the UAE, who said this significant contribution will enable us to reach millions of people facing acute hunger and daily hardship, and will have a tangible, life-saving impact on the lives of vulnerable families

“The United Nations World Food Programme expresses its profound gratitude and appreciation to the Government of the United Arab Emirates for its generous contribution of US$20 million, which will support WFP’s life-saving operations in Sudan,” he said.

Rashid Salem Al Shamsi, Executive Director of Logistics Support at the Agency aslo witnessed the signing.

The UAE continues its sustained humanitarian support for the Sudanese people, in line with its firm and longstanding commitment to addressing the ongoing catastrophic crisis in Sudan.

The agency said over the past decade (2015–2025), it has provided US$4.24 billion in assistance to Sudan, including US$784 million in humanitarian aid since the outbreak of the civil war (2023–2025).

“The UAE also underscores the importance of collective action with regional and international partners and reiterates the need for a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid, contributing to stability and peace for the brotherly Sudanese people,” read part of a statement.

This comes a few days after Prime Minister Kamil Idris announced that the government will return to Khartoum after operating from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, some 700 kilometres (440 miles) away, for nearly three years.

Main roads have been cleared, and cranes now punctuate the skyline of a capital scarred by the war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army, which retook the city last March.

Since then, officials have toured reconstruction sites daily, promising a swift return to normal life.

More than a third of Khartoum's nine million residents fled when the RSF seized it in 2023. Over a million have returned since the army retook the city.

The UN estimates that rebuilding infrastructure will cost at least $350 million.