The convoy included trucks from the UN’s World Food Programme
June 3 — United Nations trucks carrying aid for the war-torn Sudanese region of North Darfur have been attacked, with initial reports of “multiple casualties”, a spokesperson for the organisation has said.
The Sudanese government said “guards, drivers and civilians” had been killed in the assault, which it blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting the army in a gruelling civil war.
However, the RSF blamed the army for the assault, which took place in the town of el-Koma on Monday night.
The UN has not said who was responsible, but explained that the convoy was attacked while waiting to leave for el-Fasher, a beseiged city where famine conditions have been reported.
El-Fasher is the last major location in North Darfur under army control. Civilians and military personnel there have been under attack by the RSF for over a year.
Four members of the UN convoy travelling to el-Fasher were killed on Monday night and two more were injured, RSF spokesperson Basha Tabiq said in a post on X.
The el-Koma Emergency Room, a group of local volunteer responders, posted a video of a burnt out truck, loaded with sacks of supplies, on Facebook. They blamed the attack on “Sudanese army drones”.
El-Koma, which is controlled by the RSF, has previously been the target of frequent attacks in the conflict between the paramilitary group and the army.
Assaults on the city have resulted in civilian deaths and damaged key infrastructure.
The el-Koma Emergency Room said at least 89 people were killed or injured after Sudanese army warplanes launched airstrikes in the town on Sunday. The army has not responded to this accusation.
According to the Sudan Tribune news website, the planes struck a busy market in el-Koma.
The war, which began more than two years ago, has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
On Tuesday Eujin Byun, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, said more than four million people have fled since the beginning of the conflict.
“Now in its third year, the 4 million people is a devastating milestone in what is the world’s most damaging displacement crisis at the moment,” U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Eujin Byun told a Geneva press briefing.
“If the conflict continues in Sudan, thousands more people, we expect thousands more people will continue to flee, putting regional and global stability at stake,” she said.
Sudan, which erupted in violence in April 2023, shares borders with seven countries: Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Central African Republic and Libya.
More than 800,000 of the refugees have arrived in Chad, where their shelter conditions are dire due to funding shortages, with only 14% of funding appeals met, UNHCR’s Dossou Patrice Ahouansou told the same briefing.
“This is an unprecedented crisis that we are facing. This is a crisis of humanity. This is a crisis of … protection based on the violence that refugees are reporting,” he said.
