The Türkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV), a charity associated with the country’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), delivered 2,500 food aid packages to families in need on Thursday in different areas of Sudan ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Along with the foundation, volunteers from the largest Turkish Muslim association in Germany, DITIB, attended a program with Ankara’s Ambassador to Khartoum Irfan Neziroğlu.
"A total of around 6,000 food packages will be distributed through our Turkish (nongovernmental organizations) NGOs in Sudan," Abdullah Şen, religious affairs counselor at the Khartoum Embassy, told Anadolu Agency (AA).
"Additionally to the capital, Khartoum, distributions will be made in South Kordofan, Darfur, Kassala, Port Sudan and in the north (regions)," he added.
Established in 1975, the TDV is a voluntary organization that works in a wide range of fields spanning education, culture, social and religious services to international aid activities with 1,003 branches in nearly 150 countries.
Aid groups had said in January that South Sudan was expected to face severe hunger this year amid the worst floods in 60 years in the country and ongoing conflict.
Nearly 1 million people across South Sudan have been affected by the floods, according to the United Nations, which last year had to reduce food aid by half in most places because of funding constraints, affecting some 3 million people.
Two years of floods have prevented people from farming and killed more than 250,000 livestock in Jonglei state alone, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
