An attack on a United Nations convoy that was aiming to deliver food to families and children in Sudan’s famine-hit Al-Fashir killed five people and injured several others, two UN agencies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The statement by the UN children’s agency and the World Food Programme did not say who was responsible for the attack and called for an urgent investigation into the incident.
The agencies condemned the assault on a joint humanitarian convoy near Al Koma in North Darfur last night.
The 15-truck convoy was carrying life-saving food and nutrition supplies for children and families in famine-affected Al Fasher. After months of escalating violence, hundreds of thousands in Al Fasher — many of them children — face severe malnutrition and starvation if aid does not reach them urgently.
“As is standard with our humanitarian convoys, the route was shared in advance, and parties on the ground were notified and aware of the location of the trucks,” they said.
Under international humanitarian law, aid convoys must be protected, and parties are obligated to allow unimpeded passage of relief supplies.
“We extend our condolences to the families of those killed and our heartfelt sympathy to all those injured. It is devastating that the supplies have not reached the vulnerable children and families they were intended for,” the statement read. “The convoy had traveled more than 1,800 kilometers (about 1,120 miles) from Port Sudan, and we were negotiating access to complete the journey to El Fasher when it was attacked.”
While the U.N. agencies did not say who was responsible, the Sudanese government and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) traded accusations Tuesday over the attack on the aid convoy.
Al-Rashid Hamid, head of operations for the Rapid Support Forces, told Radio Tamazuj that the Sudanese army launched a drone strike on the aid convoy, killing at least five people.
He said the aid convoy, coordinated with the Sudan Agency for Relief and Humanitarian Operations (SARHO), which administers aid for the RSF, was en route from Dabba to Al Fasher when it was struck near Al Koma.
Adam Juru, a local traditional leader in Al Koma, told this publication that the attack was part of recent assaults on civilians and infrastructure. He reported that administrative buildings were targeted, with workers killed, others injured and vehicles burned.
The Al-Koma Emergency Room, a group of local volunteers, posted a video of a burned out truck, loaded with supplies, and blamed the attack on “Sudanese army drones”.
For its part, the Sudanese government in Port Sudan accused the RSF of attacking the convoy, calling it a “serious” assault on U.N. aid and alleging it was an attempt to block relief to besieged Al Fasher.
The incident follows escalating attacks on humanitarian operations, including last week’s bombardment of the World Food Programme’s Al Fasher premises, which damaged a workshop, office and clinic.