GENEVA
The UN World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF on Tuesday condemned a deadly attack on a joint humanitarian convoy in Sudan’s North Darfur state, in which five people were killed and several others injured.
“Multiple trucks were burned, and critical humanitarian supplies were damaged,” the agencies said in a joint statement.
The convoy, comprising 15 trucks, had been en route to El-Fasher in western Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of people, including many children, are at high risk of malnutrition and starvation, according to the statement.
“The convoy … was attempting to reach children and families in the famine-affected El-Fasher with life-saving food and nutrition supplies,” the statement said.
The UN agencies said the route had been shared in advance with parties on the ground according to standard procedure.
“Under international humanitarian law, aid convoys must be protected, and parties have the obligation to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.”
They also demanded an immediate end to attacks on humanitarian personnel, facilities, and vehicles, calling for an urgent investigation and for the perpetrators to be held accountable.
“It is devastating that the supplies have not reached the vulnerable children and families they were intended to,” they added, noting the convoy had traveled over 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) from Port Sudan and was negotiating final access when it was ambushed.
“Attacks on humanitarian staff, aid, operations, as well as civilians and civilian infrastructure in Sudan have continued for far too long with impunity,” the UN agencies warned. “The lives of millions in Sudan, including in locations like El-Fasher in Darfur, depend on it.”
El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, has witnessed intense fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since May 2024, despite international warnings about the risks of violence in a city that serves as a key humanitarian hub for the five Darfur states.
The Sudanese government and the RSF on Tuesday traded accusations on the aid convoy attack.
The RSF and the army have been locked in a brutal power struggle since April 2023, resulting in thousands of deaths and pushing Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
More than 20,000 people have been killed and 15 million displaced, according to UN and local figures. However, US-based researchers estimate the actual death toll to be as high as 130,000.
