Inequality is a major determinant of access to food in Sudan, with power, wealth and services concentrated within a central Sudan elite, leaving much of the country marginalized, impoverished and suffering repeated emergencies. This article discusses how food aid both contributed to the state’s exclusionary development process and tried but failed to assist crisis-affected populations in its peripheries. In the 1950s, food aid explicitly aimed to support the state but from the late 1980s, emergency…

This briefing paper sheds light on some aspects of the conflict sensitivity of food aid in former Northern Bahr el Ghazal (NBeG). In contrast to other states, NBeG has been spared by large scale armed violence, but it is affected by a severe food security crisis that has forced tens of thousands of people to move to Sudan. Food insecurity has been chronic in NBeG, but has been further exacerbated by the economic crisis, large…

This article from 2002 reviews the nature of “complex emergencies”, and briefly examines the motives for humanitarian aid responses in such conditions. It is written out of the authors’ experiences of living and working in Sudan and for aid agencies working in Sudan and in other countries experiencing complex emergencies. In particular, it draws on the programme known as “Operation Lifeline Sudan” (OLS) as a case study. Link to publication

This document from 1998 describes the six main food economy areas of southern Sudan and summarizes information on food security. Found in the Sudan Open Archive.    

This report reviews Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), with a particular focus on the relationship between OLS’s creation of humanitarian space, and the flow of assistance to war-affected populations. It sets out to assess and analyse the effectiveness of the OLS modus operandi in meeting the needs of war-affected civilians. Download    

This report reviews Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), with a particular focus on the relationship between OLS’s creation of humanitarian space, and the flow of assistance to war-affected populations. It sets out to assess and analyse the effectiveness of the OLS modus operandi in meeting the needs of war-affected civilians.  

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