Drone attack destroys sixteen UN food trucks for the hungry in Sudan

(Patria) - The United Nations announced that a drone attack on their convoy set fire to all sixteen trucks carrying food to Sudan's hunger-stricken North Darfur region, destroying all vehicles.

UN Deputy Spokesperson Daniela Gross told reporters that all drivers and staff traveling with the World Food Programme convoy are safe, AP reported.

She said it was not yet clear who was responsible for the attack on Wednesday, the second in three months that has prevented a UN convoy from delivering food to North Darfur. In early June, a World Food Programme and UNICEF convoy was attacked while awaiting clearance to proceed to the besieged North Darfur capital, El Fasher, killing five people and wounding several others.

Sudan has been in conflict since April 2023, when violence fueled by long-standing tensions between military and paramilitary leaders erupted in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions, including West Darfur.

Around 40,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million displaced, UN agencies say. Nearly 25 million people are experiencing acute hunger, Gross said.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies announced in late June that they had formed a parallel government in areas they control, mainly in the vast Darfur region where allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity are being investigated.

The RSF has besieged El Fasher, where the UN claims people are facing starvation. It is the only state capital not held by the paramilitary forces in Darfur, which consists of five states.

More than a year ago, famine was declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur. The risk of starvation has since spread to seventeen areas in Darfur and the Kordofan region, which borders North Darfur and lies west of Khartoum, the UN says.