Five killed in attack on UN food convoy heading to Sudan hunger hot spot, UN says
'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 airstrike, 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 traveled over 1,800 kilometers 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 saw 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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Fox News
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"We stand ready to find solutions for the continuity of the education of girls and continue to explore options with the authorities." Related: Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bars girls from attending school beyond the primary grades PHOTO A call to action UNICEF is calling for dialogue between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan to phase the returns and allow the Afghan authorities, UN agencies, NGOs and partners to better manage the response, and calls on donors to support humanitarian action for the returnee population, including for children, both at the point of reception and in areas of final resettlement. Your contribution to UNICEF is more important than ever. Make a 100 percent tax-deductible donation today.
