Sudan Receives Humanitarian Aid to Fight COVID-19

The two planes carrying medical supplies and urgent humanitarian aid arrive at Khartoum Airport, where about 700,000 people will benefit from them. Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic
The two planes carrying medical supplies and urgent humanitarian aid arrive at Khartoum Airport, where about 700,000 people will benefit from them. Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic
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Sudan Receives Humanitarian Aid to Fight COVID-19

The two planes carrying medical supplies and urgent humanitarian aid arrive at Khartoum Airport, where about 700,000 people will benefit from them. Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic
The two planes carrying medical supplies and urgent humanitarian aid arrive at Khartoum Airport, where about 700,000 people will benefit from them. Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic

The International Humanitarian City (IHC) chartered two aircraft rotations to transport the vital cargo from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Khartoum Airport.

The planes landed in Khartoum, carrying WHO supplies weighing 54 metric tons at a total value of AED3 million ($816,000), which is estimated to reach over 700,000 beneficiaries.

The WHO and IHC are dispatching emergency health kits, personnel protection equipment, laboratory tests and appropriate medical supplies stored within IHC premises.

The aim is to help Sudan ease challenges in detecting, preventing, and mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and providing treatments.

Chief Executive Officer of International Humanitarian City Giuseppe Saba said that "by supporting the emergency response of its member community, IHC’s efforts reflect Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision for assisting populations affected by natural disasters and complex emergencies.”

"IHC has been always together with its community and will continue to pro-actively support humanitarian actions and continue to serve communities in need.”

WHO Representative in Sudan Dr. Nima Abid said that "these supplies are a lifeline for people in need of health care in Sudan."

"Support from IHC has allowed us to deliver these supplies at a time when they are most needed, to make sure people have access to the health services they need and avoid unnecessary loss of lives.”

Abid further expressed that the WHO is grateful "to the United States Agency for International Development, the European Commission for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, the Sudan Humanitarian Response Fund, and WHO’s Central Emergency Response Fund, whose generous contributions allowed the procurement of these urgently-needed supplies.”



Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Government officials met Wednesday in the northeastern province of Hasakeh with the commander of the main Kurdish-led group in the country, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the US.

The new Syrian government wants to bring Syria’s breakaway Kurdish militias back under government control, but the details of their recent breakthrough agreement are still being worked out and negotiators will have overcome a decade of civil war.

Wednesday’s meeting comes a week after Syria’s interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the SDF into the Syrian army.

The deal should be implemented by the end of the year. It would bring northeast Syria’s borders and lucrative oil fields under the central government’s control.