TanzaniaAccording to the World Food Program, a drone strike on a 16-truck U.N. convoy transporting much-needed food to Sudan’s famine-stricken North Darfur region damaged three burning vehicles. Every employee and driver was safe.
“Three trucks carrying life-saving aid were destroyed, but our drivers lived.” Attacks have to end. In a post on X, Cindy McCain, the head of the U.N. food organization, stated that safe, ongoing access must be ensured.
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Daniela Gross, a U.N. assistant spokesperson, first told reporters Thursday that all 16 trucks were damaged and burned.
The identity of the perpetrator of Wednesday’s attack, the second in three months to stop a U.N. convoy from delivering to North Dafur, is still unknown, according to Gross. Five individuals were killed and numerous more were injured when a convoy from the World Food Program and UNICEF was ambushed in early June while they were waiting for permission to travel to the beleaguered city of North Darfur, El-Fasher.
After long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders erupted in the capital, Khartoum, and expanded to other areas, particularly western Darfur, Sudan entered a state of war in April 2023. According to U.N. authorities, there have been almost 13 million displaced persons and about 40,000 fatalities. Acute hunger affects around 25 million individuals, according to Gross.
In late June, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and their allies declared that they had established a parallel government in the areas under their control, primarily in the enormous Darfur region, where accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes are being looked into.
The U.N. claims that civilians in el-Fasher, which is surrounded by the RSF, are starving. In Darfur, which is made up of five states, it is the only capital that is not controlled by paramilitary troops.
Famine was proclaimed in the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur more than a year ago. According to the U.N., the risk of hunger has since expanded to 17 regions in Darfur and the Kordofan region, which is west of Khartoum and next to North Darfur.
