The Uganda People’s Defence Airforce (UPDAF) has in the past few days airdropped hundreds of metric tonnes of emergency food aid to hard-hit areas of South Sudan’s northern Upper Nile State, where thousands of displaced people are currently living in famine conditions following the outbreak of armed violence in the region earlier this year.
According to Acting Director Defence Public Information Col. Chris Magezi, the humanitarian aid deliveries provided by a coalition of international partners are airlifted by UPDAF from Juba International Airport to Ulang and Nasir Counties of the Upper Nile state.
Since March 2025, Col. Magezi said, 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 the incarcerated 1st Vice President of South Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon.
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.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), at the request of South Sudan authorities, deployed an expeditionary force to the country in March 2025, helping to support the SSPDF in rear operations to secure the capital Juba as well as providing other military technical assistance.
The security situation around the greater Juba region has since stabilised, easing tensions that have allowed foreign missions, businesses, and trade to resume.
