Drone attack destroys UN aid convoy in Sudan’s famine-hit Darfur region

As warring parties exchange blame for the attack, a drone attack hit a convoy of 16 trucks carrying desperately needed food to Sudan’s famine-stricken North Darfur region, according to the UN.

On Thursday, UN spokesman Daniela Gross assured reporters that the WFP convoy’s drivers and drivers were all safe.

According to a WFP statement that was quoted by the Reuters news agency, at least three of the trucks caught fire. The Associated Press news agency reported that Glass claimed that all trucks had caught fire.

The second UN convoy’s delivery to North Darfur in the past three months was delayed by unknown reasons for Wednesday’s attack, which was not yet known.

The Sudanese army is accused of attacking the convoys in response to a drone attack on Mellit market and other locations by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Later, the army claimed in a statement that this was a fabrication to detract from the crimes committed by the RSF.

Five people were killed and several others were hurt when a convoy from the WFP and UNICEF arrived in North Darfur in early June while waiting for clearance to enter the besieged capital, El-Fasher.

Security guarantees were required because humanitarian workers were being targeted, according to Edem Wosornu of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, who reported that 70 truckloads of supplies were waiting in Nyala, which is under the control of the RSF.

The attack came as several nations, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and neighboring Egypt, expressed concern about Sudan’s worsening humanitarian situation and demanded pauses in fighting to encourage more aid.

In Khartoum, the country’s capital, was the site of the war that started in April 2023, when violence erupted as a result of persistent tensions between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary RSF. It spread to other parts of the country, including western Darfur.

According to UN agencies, nearly 13 million people have been displaced and nearly 40 000 have died. Acute hunger affects nearly 25 million people.

In areas under their control, notably in the vast Darfur region, where allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity are being investigated, the RSF and their allies announced in late June that they had established a parallel government.

El-Fasher, where the UN claims people are starving, has been encircled by the RSF. The only capital in Darfur, which consists of five states, is that the paramilitary forces don’t control.

As fighting rages, an estimated 300,000 city residents are still under a lengthy siege.

In the displacement camp in North Darfur, a famine was declared last year. According to the UN, the risk of famine has since been spread to 17 areas in Darfur and the Kordofan region, which are adjacent to North Darfur and west of Khartoum.