Qatar is one of the first countries to initiate the launch of an urgent relief campaign in response to the deteriorating situation being witnessed by Sudan due to the bloody conflict that erupted on April 15 this year.
Consequently, Qatar scrambled to launch an urgent air bridge through which it has provided 301 tonnes in food and medical aid and evacuated 1,784 Qatari ID holders.
Qatar has been constantly supporting the brotherly Sudanese people through its charitable organisations: where Qatar Charity (QC), Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) undertook an effective role in the crisis, in terms of providing effective support to counter the deteriorating humanitarian challenges and crises.
Meanwhile, QC revealed that the total number of beneficiaries from the aid that were provided to the people affected by the conflict in Sudan reached over 70,000 people until June 4, 2023, and said it continues to provide aid in three major fields: food supply, shelter and health in collaboration and co-ordination with QFFD.
Qatar Charity has provided aid to three main states; namely Port Sudan, Al Jazirah and Northern Sudan, in addition to providing essential support to Sudanese people who are crossing the Chadian borders due to the crisis in shelter and food, and pointed out that it continues to deliver shipments of food items and other materials via the Qatari air bridge in collaboration with QFFD and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ninth air shipment arrived in Port Sudan on June 4, 2023, with 30 tonnes of food baskets onboard, QC added, pointing out that the total number of food item shipments it had provided through the Qatari air bridge had reached tens of thousands of tonnes. It noted that the total number of beneficiaries from the food items distributed within the Red Sea camps and Al Zahraa camps in Al Jazirah state and Arqin crossing on the Sudanese-Egyptian borders reached 35,834 beneficiaries, and included 30,000 hot meals that were distributed to the Red Sea and Al Jazirah states.
With regard to health, QC established a mobile medical clinic that provides medical services to patients in camps. QC visited 13 shelter camps, conducted medical examinations for southern patients, provided free-of-charge medicines and treatments to stranded patients and displaced persons in Port Sudan, in addition to providing blood bags and medical solutions, along with a myriad of blood-test devices that were distributed to a variety of hospitals in Al Jazirah, Red Sea and Northern Sudan states.
Pertaining to sheltering operations, QC asserted that it had provided relief aid of shelter materials to Sudanese people who are crossing to the Chadian borders due to the crisis as refugees in Chad.
In the same context, QRCS launched an urgent relief campaign under the slogan: "Help Sudan" in response to the deteriorating situation due to the conflict, which targets the collection of QR50mn to provide relief aid to 100,000 families, including 700,000 people. The campaign will last for 18 months to save lives and to alleviate humanitarian suffering of the affected people.
In statements to QNA, QRCS confirmed that the projects will focus on providing support in heath, shelter and food security for people in the affected areas, in step with local associations, adding that the projects' implementation includes a two-pronged phase. The first one is "Urgent Relief" project which is due to be carried out during six months and includes health service, non-food items, food items, water and sanitation services. The second phase includes "Recovery" during 12 months, with supply of the rest of the medical equipment required for hospitals, supply and receipt of required ambulances, supply of medicines and medical consumables, supply of laboratory materials, sterilisation materials as well as provision of gift vouchers to meet the basic needs of 500 families who lost their shelter for a period of 12 months, as well as provision of non-food relief aid to the affected families, restoration and repair of damaged homes (500 homes), and furnishing of repaired homes.
To follow up on activities and procedures, QRCS activated the Disaster Information Management Center to obtain the latest news on the armed conflict with data and statistics, in addition to information pertinent to all response activities it had carried out, and subsequently dispatched a relief aid team consisting of four persons from its office in Doha, to support the office in Sudan.
