Team of 1,000 Saudi volunteers leaves for Sudan to distribute aid worth $100m

KSrelief's kingdom-wide fundraising campaign was launched on Monday

A Saudi Royal Navy officer assists a women evacuated to the kingdom from Sudan on Monday. Reuters

A team of 1,000 Saudi volunteers departed for Sudan on Tuesday to deliver food, medical aid and shelter.

Humanitarian aid worth $100 million will be provided to the Sudanese people by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, the Saudi Press Agency said.

Its kingdom-wide fundraising campaign was launched on Monday to help those affected by the fighting.

Supervisor General of KSrelief Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah said the fundraising campaign was one of the “noble features of the leadership of this country and generous people that respond”.

Senior UN aid envoy Martin Griffiths arrived in Jeddah on Sunday to discuss the worsening Sudan crisis, which experts fear could leave 5 million people without enough food and spark a wave of mass migration of nearly one million people.

Saudi Arabia has been working with the US and allies to secure a ceasefire since fighting began in Sudan on April 15.

Rival generals Mohamed Dagalo and Abdel Fattah Al Burhan have shown little desire for compromise as they continue to compete over military control.

“Pre-negotiation talks will continue in the coming days in the expectation of reaching an effective short-term ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian assistance,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.

Saudi Arabia has evacuated more than 5,000 people from Sudan since the start of its mission.

The Ministry of Defence on Tuesday said King Abdullah Air Base had received 26 flights since the evacuations began, carrying 2,889 people.

The Air Force has set up six evacuation flights since the start of the operation that carried people from Sudan to the kingdom.

The UN says 860,000 are expected to flee to neighbouring countries that were already struggling with an aid crisis.

A UN official warned on Tuesday it was "very difficult" for Sudanese people to access money as the country's ATMs and banking services were no longer functioning.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organisation put the death toll in Sudan at more than 600, with 5,000 injured, though the figure is expected to be much higher as many deaths are unaccounted for.