Sudan aid flight order

Southern Sudan is heavily dependent on outside assistance

The Sudanese Government has told the United Nations that all aid flights to southern Sudan must go from the capital, Khartoum, from now on.

The move follows allegations by the Sudanese Government that aid agencies operating from outside Sudan had airlifted arms to separatist rebels in the south.

Sudan is a country divided, with the rebels of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) effectively controlling the south of the country in the civil war against the dominant north.

A BBC correspondent in Khartoum says relief agencies are furious at Sudanese government attempts to control the flow of aid, and that government interference could destroy the UN-sponsored aid programme.

The aid operation, dubbed Operation Lifeline Sudan, is made up of 35 relief organisations and 500 people delivering millions of dollars worth of food.

The UN estimates nearly 2m people in southern Sudan will be dependent on relief food this year.

The relief operation assists those affected by the 17-year civil war and operates out of both Khartoum and Nairobi in Kenya.