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UPDF airforce starts delivering food to remote areas of South Sudan

South Sudanese pick food dropped from the air by UPDAF

Juba, South Sudan | THE INDEPENDENT | Because of the unpredictable situation in South Sudan’s northern Upper Nile State, President Salva Kiir has requested the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Air Force to help deliver food to starving citizens.

Thousands of South Sudanese are confined in camps in northern Upper Nile State following a fierce exchange between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his 1st Vice President Riek Machar.

The Uganda People’s Defence Airforce (UPDAF) has in the past few days airdropped hundreds of metric tonnes in emergency food aid to hard-hit areas of South Sudan’s northern Upper Nile State, confirmed Col. Chris Magezi, UPDF’s Acting Spokesperson. Thousands of displaced people are currently living in famine conditions following the outbreak of armed violence in the region earlier this year.

The humanitarian aid deliveries provided by a coalition of international partners are airlifted by UPDAF from Juba International Airport to the Ulang and Nasir Counties of the Upper Nile state. Since March 2025, fighting has pitted the government’s South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) against the Sudan People’s Liberation Army In Opposition (SPLA-IO), a Nuer tribal militia group that is allied to incarcerated 1st Vice President of South Sudan Dr Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon.

UPDF rushed to South Sudan in March after it emerged that Michar’s forces were on the verge of overthrowing Kiir’s government. The SPLA-IO, also known as the White Army, is accused of conducting widespread massacres against the rival Dinka communities and other ethnic groups in the region.

Kiir

Col Magezi reechoed the Chief of Defence Forces –CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s statement issued in March this year that UPDF deployed at the request of the South Sudan authorities.

According to Gen Muhoozi, UPDF deployed an expeditionary force in South Sudan to support the SSPDF in rear security operations to secure the capital Juba as well as provide other military technical assistance.

UPDF says the security situation around the greater Juba region has since stabilized, easing tensions which have since allowed foreign missions, businesses, and trade to boom again. Efforts to resolve the conflict between Kiir and Machar have so far yielded no results.

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