Sudan Says It Will Resume Diplomatic Relations with Iran

Sudanese move past trucks in Shendi, 190 kilometers (120 miles) from Khartoum, on September 21, 2023. (AFP)
Sudanese move past trucks in Shendi, 190 kilometers (120 miles) from Khartoum, on September 21, 2023. (AFP)
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Sudan Says It Will Resume Diplomatic Relations with Iran

Sudanese move past trucks in Shendi, 190 kilometers (120 miles) from Khartoum, on September 21, 2023. (AFP)
Sudanese move past trucks in Shendi, 190 kilometers (120 miles) from Khartoum, on September 21, 2023. (AFP)

Sudan said on Monday that would restore diplomatic relations with Iran, seven years after they were severed and three months after a meeting between the countries' foreign ministers.

Sudan, currently in the midst of a devastating war, cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016 following the storming of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to resume ties in March under a deal negotiated by China.

The decision to resume relations "came after a number of high-level communications between the two countries and will serve their mutual interests", the Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement.

While there was no immediate statement from Iran, its foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said in July that the two countries were working on resuming ties after he met Sudan's acting foreign minister, Ali al-Sadeq, in Baku.



WFP: Major Food Aid 'Scale-up' Underway to Famine-hit Sudan

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
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WFP: Major Food Aid 'Scale-up' Underway to Famine-hit Sudan

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa

More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Program spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
"In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month," WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
"We've received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas," she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, Reuters quoted her as saying.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.

A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km away, she said.