Drone attack destroys trucks carrying UN food to Sudan's famine-hit Darfur region

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A drone attack on a 16-truck U.N. convoy carrying desperately needed food to Sudan’s famine-hit North Darfur region destroyed three vehicles that had caught fire, the World Food Program said. All drivers and personnel were safe.

“Our drivers survived, but 3 trucks carrying life-saving aid were DESTROYED. Attacks must stop. Safe, sustained access must be guaranteed,” said Cindy McCain, chief of the U.N. food agency, said in a post on X.

U.N. associate spokesperson Daniela Gross had initially told reporters Thursday that all 16 trucks were set on fire and destroyed.

Gross said it was not yet clear who was responsible for Wednesday’s attack, the second in the past three months to prevent a U.N. convoy from delivering to North Darfur. In early June, a convoy from the World Food Program and UNICEF was attacked while awaiting clearance to proceed to North Darfur’s besieged capital, el-Fasher, killing five people and injuring several others.

Sudan plunged into conflict in April 2023, when violence sparked by long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders erupted in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including western Darfur. Some 40,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million displaced, U.N. agencies say. Nearly 25 million people are experiencing acute hunger, Gross said.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces 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 encircled el-Fasher, where the U.N. says people are facing starvation. It is the only capital the paramilitary forces don’t hold in Darfur, which is comprised of five states.

Over a year ago, famine was declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur. The risk of famine has since spread to 17 areas in Darfur and the Kordofan region, which is adjacent to North Darfur and west of Khartoum, the U.N. says.