UN food convoy attacked in Sudan, supplies looted amid crisis

Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN’s top humanitarian representative for Sudan, expressed her “outrage” at the incident.

“The aid supplies looted from a WFP convoy in Central Darfur will no longer reach those most in need,” she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

In a separate post, the WFP called on authorities to ensure perpetrators are held accountable and stressed that “the safe delivery of aid must be guaranteed by all.”

Alarming situation

The attack comes amid a deepening humanitarian crisis resulting from the ongoing war between rival militaries in Sudan, which has brought the country to the brink of famine.

More than half of the population, around 26 million people, are affected by famine “on a critical scale” and almost 9.4 million people have been displaced from their homes, of which around 1.9 million have fled to neighboring countries.

The situation is particularly worrying in the Darfur region, where there is heavy fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

According to United Nations humanitarian workers, the lives of 800,000 people are at stake as fierce fighting rages in densely populated areas of the provincial capital El Fasher, causing widespread and long-term harm to civilians and significantly disrupting the delivery of essential services.

Financing “urgently” needed

For their part, UN organizations continue to provide assistance and protection to millions of people in need, despite significant challenges and uncertainty.

For example, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners provided children and their families with clean drinking water, medical services and screening for malnutrition.

To contain the hunger crisis, the WFP also increased its emergency aid operations. The number of people to be helped by 2024 will more than double to 8.7 million.

However, the agencies report that in addition to unhindered access, additional resources are needed to avert famine in the lean season that has now begun.

As of June 24, 2024, the $2.7 billion Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024, which aims to provide life-saving assistance to 14.7 million people across the country, was only 16.6 percent funded; $447.4 million had already been received.