The first U.N. food aid since Sudan’s conflict began two years ago has reached the centre of the capital Khartoum, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Relief efforts are also scaling up in the western Darfur region amid large-scale displacement. Distributions of 70 metric tonnes of World Food Programme (WFP) supplies for nearly 8,000 people in Khartoum’s Burri neighbourhood are set to begin on Thursday, U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters. These mark the first distributions in the downtown area since the conflict erupted. Aid distributions have also started in the Alazhari neighbourhood in south Khartoum, targeting 20,000 people in an area the U.N. considers at high risk of famine, Haq said. Separately, the U.N. is dispatching more humanitarian supplies to Tawila in North Darfur state, where Haq said more than 300,000 people have sought safety after fleeing recent attacks in the Zamzam displacement camp. (Sudan Tribune)