KHARTOUM, Sudan — A United Nations humanitarian flight has landed in Khartoum for the first time since Sudan’s war began nearly three years ago, a symbolic and operational milestone as aid agencies try to expand access in a country still shattered by conflict, displacement and famine. UN humanitarian coordinator Denise Brown, who arrived from Port Sudan, called the flight “a big deal for the humanitarian community” because it will make it easier to move staff and supplies across Sudan’s vast territory.
Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced around 11 million to 14 million people, and created what the United Nations describes as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Khartoum, seized early in the war by the RSF, has been slowly re-opening since the army retook much of the capital in March 2025.
The reopening of Khartoum airport remains fragile. The facility was heavily damaged early in the war and later targeted by drone strikes, including one before an earlier planned reopening. Passenger flights only began returning this year, with the first domestic commercial service landing in early February after months of rehabilitation work and security concerns. Brown said she was traveling onward to Kordofan, where aid access has been especially difficult. She pointed to the cities of Kadugli and Dilling, which were cut off for months before the army recently loosened siege conditions. Humanitarian deliveries only resumed last week, when more than 50 trucks carried essential supplies into the area for local responders.
Her warning on hunger was stark. Brown said available information suggests Dilling may currently be experiencing famine conditions, though that has not yet been formally confirmed. A UN-backed food security assessment has already confirmed famine in Kadugli and al-Fashir, underscoring how the war’s center of gravity may be shifting but its humanitarian toll is not easing. Reuters reported in November that more than 21 million Sudanese were facing acute food insecurity even after some stabilization in central parts of the country.
Brown urged world leaders to “put their heads together to find a solution,” saying the renewed access should not obscure the scale of Sudan’s continuing catastrophe.
