An ambush on a United Nations food aid convoy in Sudan has killed at least five people, blocking urgently needed supplies from reaching civilians facing starvation in the war-torn Darfur city of el-Fasher.
Aid agencies confirmed on Tuesday that the 15-truck convoy was transporting critical humanitarian supplies from Port Sudan to North Darfur when it was attacked overnight.
“Five members of the convoy were killed and several more people were injured. Multiple trucks were burned, and critical humanitarian supplies were damaged,” the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a joint statement.
The agencies did not identify the perpetrators and called for an urgent investigation, describing the incident as a violation of international humanitarian law. The route had been shared in advance with both warring parties.
The convoy was nearing al-Koma, a town under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), when it came under fire. The area had witnessed a drone attack earlier in the week that killed civilians, according to local activists.
Fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese army has raged for over two years, displacing millions and plunging more than half of Sudan’s population into acute hunger. El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, remains one of the most vulnerable regions.
“Hundreds of thousands of people in el-Fasher are at high risk of malnutrition and starvation,” the UN statement warned.
Both sides blamed each other for the attack. The RSF accused the army of launching an air attack on the convoy, while the army claimed RSF fighters torched the trucks. Neither account could be independently verified.
The attack is the latest in a string of assaults on humanitarian operations.
In recent weeks, RSF shelling targeted WFP facilities in el-Fasher, and an attack on El Obeid Hospital in North Kordofan killed several medical staff. Aid delivery has become increasingly perilous as access routes are blocked or come under fire.
