Five killed in attack on food convoy in Sudan: UN
An attack on a United Nations food convoy in Sudan overnight has killed five people and prevented food deliveries to children and families who face starvation in North Darfur's al-Fashir, UN agencies say.
"Five members of the convoy were killed and several more people were injured. Multiple trucks were burned, and critical humanitarian supplies were damaged," the UN children's agency and the World Food Programme said in a joint statement.
They did not say who was responsible and called for an urgent investigation into the attack, which they said was a violation of international humanitarian law.
Without fresh supplies soon, hundreds of thousands of people in al-Fashir are at "high risk of malnutrition and starvation," the UN joint statement said.
Aid has frequently come under crossfire in the two-year-old war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has left more than half the population facing crisis levels of hunger and driven millions from their homes.
In statements, the RSF and the army blamed each other for the latest attack.
The RSF said the army had attacked in an air strike, while the army said the RSF had torched the truck.
Reuters could not independently verify the contradictory accounts.
The UN joint statement said the route of the 15-truck convoy, which travelled more than 1800km from Port Sudan, had been shared with the parties in advance.
It was negotiating access to complete the journey when it was attacked, it said.
Al Koma is controlled by the RSF, and earlier this week was the scene of a drone strike that claimed several civilian lives, according to local activists.
Famine conditions have previously been reported in al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur.
The fighting and barriers to the delivery of aid put in place by both sides have cut off supplies.
The attack is the latest of several assaults on aid in recent days.
It follows the repeated shelling of UN World Food Programme premises in al-Fashir by the RSF and an attack on El Obeid hospital in North Kordofan that killed several medics late last month.
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The Advertiser
12 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Rwanda quits Central African bloc in dispute with Congo
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M23 seized eastern Congo's two largest cities earlier this year, with the advance leaving thousands dead and raising concerns of an all-out regional war. African leaders, along with Washington and Doha, have been trying to broker a peace deal. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 by sending troops and weapons. Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces were acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed about one million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis. US President Donald Trump's administration hopes to strike a peace accord between Congo and Rwanda that would also facilitate billions in Western investment in the region, rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium. The bloc was established in the 1980s to foster co-operation in areas such as security and economic affairs among its member states. Rwanda says it will withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States, underscoring diplomatic tensions in the region over an offensive by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. Kigali had expected to assume the chairmanship of the 11-member bloc at a meeting on Saturday in Equatorial Guinea. Instead, the bloc kept Equatorial Guinea in the role, which Rwanda's foreign ministry denounced as a violation of its rights. Rwanda, in a statement, condemned Congo's "instrumentalisation" of the bloc and saw "no justification for remaining in an organisation whose current functioning runs counter to its founding principles". It wasn't clear if Rwanda's exit from the bloc would take immediate effect. The office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in a statement that bloc members had "acknowledged the aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwanda and ordered the aggressor country to withdraw its troops from Congolese soil". M23 seized eastern Congo's two largest cities earlier this year, with the advance leaving thousands dead and raising concerns of an all-out regional war. African leaders, along with Washington and Doha, have been trying to broker a peace deal. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 by sending troops and weapons. Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces were acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed about one million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis. US President Donald Trump's administration hopes to strike a peace accord between Congo and Rwanda that would also facilitate billions in Western investment in the region, rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium. The bloc was established in the 1980s to foster co-operation in areas such as security and economic affairs among its member states. Rwanda says it will withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States, underscoring diplomatic tensions in the region over an offensive by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. Kigali had expected to assume the chairmanship of the 11-member bloc at a meeting on Saturday in Equatorial Guinea. Instead, the bloc kept Equatorial Guinea in the role, which Rwanda's foreign ministry denounced as a violation of its rights. Rwanda, in a statement, condemned Congo's "instrumentalisation" of the bloc and saw "no justification for remaining in an organisation whose current functioning runs counter to its founding principles". It wasn't clear if Rwanda's exit from the bloc would take immediate effect. The office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in a statement that bloc members had "acknowledged the aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwanda and ordered the aggressor country to withdraw its troops from Congolese soil". M23 seized eastern Congo's two largest cities earlier this year, with the advance leaving thousands dead and raising concerns of an all-out regional war. African leaders, along with Washington and Doha, have been trying to broker a peace deal. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 by sending troops and weapons. Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces were acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed about one million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis. US President Donald Trump's administration hopes to strike a peace accord between Congo and Rwanda that would also facilitate billions in Western investment in the region, rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium. The bloc was established in the 1980s to foster co-operation in areas such as security and economic affairs among its member states. Rwanda says it will withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States, underscoring diplomatic tensions in the region over an offensive by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. Kigali had expected to assume the chairmanship of the 11-member bloc at a meeting on Saturday in Equatorial Guinea. Instead, the bloc kept Equatorial Guinea in the role, which Rwanda's foreign ministry denounced as a violation of its rights. Rwanda, in a statement, condemned Congo's "instrumentalisation" of the bloc and saw "no justification for remaining in an organisation whose current functioning runs counter to its founding principles". It wasn't clear if Rwanda's exit from the bloc would take immediate effect. The office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in a statement that bloc members had "acknowledged the aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwanda and ordered the aggressor country to withdraw its troops from Congolese soil". M23 seized eastern Congo's two largest cities earlier this year, with the advance leaving thousands dead and raising concerns of an all-out regional war. African leaders, along with Washington and Doha, have been trying to broker a peace deal. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers accuse Rwanda of supporting M23 by sending troops and weapons. Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces were acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed about one million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis. US President Donald Trump's administration hopes to strike a peace accord between Congo and Rwanda that would also facilitate billions in Western investment in the region, rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium. The bloc was established in the 1980s to foster co-operation in areas such as security and economic affairs among its member states.
The Advertiser
12 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Israeli military kills four near Gaza aid site: medics
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The foundation, which is handing out aid under an Israeli initiative that is bypassing traditional relief agencies who say their deliveries into Israeli-blockaded Gaza have been restricted, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The US-based organisation earlier said in a Facebook post that aid was distributed in central and southern Gaza on Sunday. It had handed out no aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Islamist group denied. The foundation uses private American military contractors to operate its sites and has been accused of a lack of neutrality and independence by the United Nations and other international humanitarian agencies. It has denied such accusations. Israel relented to international pressure to allow limited UN-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. 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Four people have been killed and others injured by Israeli forces as Palestinians making their way to an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics. The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that it had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them. It was the latest bout of shooting near aid distribution points in Gaza's south since a controversial Israeli- and US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began handing out aid late in May. Palestinian paramedics said they had evacuated the bodies of four people who were killed early on Sunday near an aid distribution venue in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Media affiliated with Gaza's dominant Hamas militant group reported that the Israeli military had opened fire near a distribution site in Rafah operated by the foundation. The Israeli military statement said the people towards whom warning shots were fired before dawn on Sunday had been verbally warned to leave the area, which was considered an active military zone at the time. The military has said people should only move to and from the distribution centres between 6am and 6pm, with non-daylight hours considered a closed military period. The military acknowledged reports of injuries but did not specify how many people it believed had been hurt or shot. Sanaa Doghmah said her husband, Khaled, 36, was fatally shot in the head while trying to reach a distribution site in Rafah to collect food for their five children. "He was going to get food for his children and himself, to make them live, feed them because they don't have a pinch of flour at home," Khaled's aunt, Salwah, said at his funeral. The foundation, which is handing out aid under an Israeli initiative that is bypassing traditional relief agencies who say their deliveries into Israeli-blockaded Gaza have been restricted, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The US-based organisation earlier said in a Facebook post that aid was distributed in central and southern Gaza on Sunday. It had handed out no aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Islamist group denied. The foundation uses private American military contractors to operate its sites and has been accused of a lack of neutrality and independence by the United Nations and other international humanitarian agencies. It has denied such accusations. Israel relented to international pressure to allow limited UN-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as a "drop in the ocean". While the foundation has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described scenes of disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence. Dozens of Palestinians were killed near foundation sites on June 1-3, Gaza health authorities said. The Israeli military said on Saturday 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack - Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave. Four people have been killed and others injured by Israeli forces as Palestinians making their way to an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics. The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that it had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them. It was the latest bout of shooting near aid distribution points in Gaza's south since a controversial Israeli- and US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began handing out aid late in May. Palestinian paramedics said they had evacuated the bodies of four people who were killed early on Sunday near an aid distribution venue in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Media affiliated with Gaza's dominant Hamas militant group reported that the Israeli military had opened fire near a distribution site in Rafah operated by the foundation. The Israeli military statement said the people towards whom warning shots were fired before dawn on Sunday had been verbally warned to leave the area, which was considered an active military zone at the time. The military has said people should only move to and from the distribution centres between 6am and 6pm, with non-daylight hours considered a closed military period. The military acknowledged reports of injuries but did not specify how many people it believed had been hurt or shot. Sanaa Doghmah said her husband, Khaled, 36, was fatally shot in the head while trying to reach a distribution site in Rafah to collect food for their five children. "He was going to get food for his children and himself, to make them live, feed them because they don't have a pinch of flour at home," Khaled's aunt, Salwah, said at his funeral. The foundation, which is handing out aid under an Israeli initiative that is bypassing traditional relief agencies who say their deliveries into Israeli-blockaded Gaza have been restricted, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The US-based organisation earlier said in a Facebook post that aid was distributed in central and southern Gaza on Sunday. It had handed out no aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Islamist group denied. The foundation uses private American military contractors to operate its sites and has been accused of a lack of neutrality and independence by the United Nations and other international humanitarian agencies. It has denied such accusations. Israel relented to international pressure to allow limited UN-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as a "drop in the ocean". While the foundation has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described scenes of disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence. Dozens of Palestinians were killed near foundation sites on June 1-3, Gaza health authorities said. The Israeli military said on Saturday 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack - Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave. Four people have been killed and others injured by Israeli forces as Palestinians making their way to an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics. The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that it had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them. It was the latest bout of shooting near aid distribution points in Gaza's south since a controversial Israeli- and US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began handing out aid late in May. Palestinian paramedics said they had evacuated the bodies of four people who were killed early on Sunday near an aid distribution venue in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Media affiliated with Gaza's dominant Hamas militant group reported that the Israeli military had opened fire near a distribution site in Rafah operated by the foundation. The Israeli military statement said the people towards whom warning shots were fired before dawn on Sunday had been verbally warned to leave the area, which was considered an active military zone at the time. The military has said people should only move to and from the distribution centres between 6am and 6pm, with non-daylight hours considered a closed military period. The military acknowledged reports of injuries but did not specify how many people it believed had been hurt or shot. Sanaa Doghmah said her husband, Khaled, 36, was fatally shot in the head while trying to reach a distribution site in Rafah to collect food for their five children. "He was going to get food for his children and himself, to make them live, feed them because they don't have a pinch of flour at home," Khaled's aunt, Salwah, said at his funeral. The foundation, which is handing out aid under an Israeli initiative that is bypassing traditional relief agencies who say their deliveries into Israeli-blockaded Gaza have been restricted, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The US-based organisation earlier said in a Facebook post that aid was distributed in central and southern Gaza on Sunday. It had handed out no aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Islamist group denied. The foundation uses private American military contractors to operate its sites and has been accused of a lack of neutrality and independence by the United Nations and other international humanitarian agencies. It has denied such accusations. Israel relented to international pressure to allow limited UN-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as a "drop in the ocean". While the foundation has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described scenes of disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence. Dozens of Palestinians were killed near foundation sites on June 1-3, Gaza health authorities said. The Israeli military said on Saturday 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack - Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.
The Age
15 hours ago
- The Age
Condemn Israel's leaders but not its people
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Education is the bulwark against crime, and it should never have been thus compromised by the Victorian government. Further, particular media outlets ran negative campaigns, often emphasising the refugees' appearance. I was teaching parents distressed at their children being subsequently severely picked on in the streets and playgrounds. Having worked with refugees from the Vietnamese to the Africans, I observed the adversity faced by the latter to be unprecedented, unjustifiable and avoidable. Crime is never excusable but far better policies must ensure it never becomes the default pathway. Barbara Chapman, South Yarra Bad behaviour faulty fix While the new powers invested in school principals to be able to expel students for inappropriate behaviour outside of school sounds like a quick fix, I can only see it adding enormously to their already excessive workload. As a former principal, expulsions are never used lightly. 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(″ Welcome to Tim Town ″, 7/6) Tim Wilson is suddenly deeply concerned about people being filmed in public without permission. Strange, because I don't recall him stepping in when his own cheer squad, proudly wearing Liberal Party T-shirts and standing right next to him, kept snapping photos of me in my Team Zoe T-shirt around Goldstein. Not to mention my family and friends, just minding their business in everyday clothes. So filming him is a scandal, but photographing us is just good clean campaigning? Classic case of 'do as I say, not as I do'. Goldstein deserves better than selective outrage. Carolyn Brydon, Brighton East Ambitious seed Thank you for Stephen Brook's interview with Tim Wilson (7/6). One aspect that often fails to get mentioned with Tim is that he was a student politician and was elected twice as a university student council president. It's where that ambitious seed is planted for many future leaders and seeing his relentless pursuit of politics, I'm not surprised we might have our first openly gay prime minister. I wholeheartedly disagree with his politics but admire his tenacity to come back, and representation still matters in our parliament. Mel Smith, Brighton Musk got played Here's a thought: If I'm a people user and need someone, I'm nice to them. If I don't need them any more, I'm not as nice. If I really want to shake them off (that expectation of gratitude can be so annoying), I'm downright nasty. In a nice way, of course. Relationships to Avoid 101: A challenging subject but a bonanza for wily grifters. Musk was simply a mark who got played. We have to hand it to Trump. It takes a lot of skill and understanding of human nature to encourage someone to shoot themselves in the foot. Marina Dobbyn, Glen Waverley Think like Wes Anderson If you want to have a good laugh about what drives our global world today I recommend seeing The Phoenician Scheme, Wes Anderson's latest film. Driving to see the film listening to the latest squabbles between Trump and Musk on radio, and then seeing a magnificent physical fight, full of similar personal fury between two global financiers on screen, also came with the bonus of a beautiful end. It's great to see a film, having laughed nearly all the way through, even though slightly mystified to be left by a feel-good ending. Sara Ginsbourg, East Bentleigh Rain delays Despite the arrival of the weekend's rain, Victorian primary producers are still not out of the woods. Grain producers will be rejoicing at the arrival of the rain, but for livestock producers it doesn't rain grass. There'll be a critical three weeks in the slowest growing season of the year until anything of feed value appears from the ground. Keep up the great support for the rural families whose commitment feeds us daily, it's not quite over yet. Andy Worland, Ballarat AFL's roof logic The AFL has unfairly imposed onerous and politically divisive conditions for the long-overdue inclusion of a Tasmanian team. It has demanded a new 23,000-capacity roofed stadium at Macquarie Point costing a billion dollars, despite the existing 19,500-capacity Bellerive Oval being capable of expansion and upgrade at a fraction of that massive cost. Furthermore, as roughly half of Tasmania's population live in the north, they would be better served if a share of the Devils' home games were played at Launceston's York Park (the venue used for some Hawks games) which could also be upgraded relatively cheaply. Why is the AFL also insisting on the inclusion of a very expensive roof when no such condition is being imposed on Brisbane's proposed Gabba replacement? Inclement weather is unlikely to affect games in Hobart any more than in Brisbane, which recently had a game cancelled due to a cyclone. About 170 AFL games are being played this season at roofless venues, with only 36 at Marvel, the only existing roofed venue. Peter Cole, Clifton Hill Tasmanian bind Tasmania is in an incredible bind. Does it submit to the bullying of the AFL (a point that few are willing to acknowledge) or forgo a team when it should have been a contributing team a decade ago? The AFL is not an elected body. It should have never put the state in such a position, ever. Tasmanian football is rich in tradition, skills and culture. The only thing missing is a governing body that genuinely wants the Devils in. Stephen Maude, Boronia AND ANOTHER THING Federal politics If the Exclusive Brethren want to participate in community, then let's invite them to pay taxes. John Cain, McCrae I recall that Tim Wilson was a strident supporter of the libertarian aspect of freedom of speech. It seems he doesn't like his own medicine when he's confronted by a passionate local constituent when interviewed for ″ Welcome to Tim Town ″, 4/6. Sally Walcock, Toorak No James Massola (Opinion, 7/6), the Labor government doesn't need the coalition to pass the superannuation bill. Drop the 30 per cent rate to $2.5 million and the Greens will get it over the line in the Senate. Job done. Ross Hosking, Blackwood, SA Israel Thank you to Josh Szeps (Opinion, 6/7) for your informed and balanced article on the history and painful complexities of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. April Baragwanath, Geelong From a fellow Aussie Jew; thank you Josh (son of wonderful character actor Henri). You speak for me with great eloquence and logic. Maurie Johns, Mt Eliza USA Donald Trump. There could be no greater definition of 'man child'. Frank Flynn, Cape Paterson I used to think movie villains such as Dr No, Goldfinger, Blofeld and Dr Evil were absurd Hollywood fantasy characters. Observing Elon's behaviour recently, I'm not so sure. Don Phillips, Fitzroy It could be worse. Your celebrity couple name could be Mump. Christian Barrington, St Kilda The joyous photo of two toddlers on the front page of Saturday's Age made my heart sing. Now let's hope the rain falls on those who need it most. Marea O'Brien, Deepdene
