UN convoy attacked while delivering food to Sudan's al-Fashir, UNICEF says
A UN convoy delivering food into Sudan's al-Fashir in North Darfur came under attack overnight, a spokesperson for the UN children's agency told Reuters on Tuesday, adding that initial reports indicated 'multiple casualties.'
'We have received information about a convoy with WFP and UNICEF trucks being attacked last night while positioned in Al Koma, North Darfur, waiting for approval to proceed to al-Fashir,' UNICEF spokesperson Eva Hinds said in response to questions.
She did not say who was responsible or elaborate on the reported casualties.
Aid has frequently come under the crossfire in the two-year-old war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has left more than half the population facing crisis levels of hunger.
Sudan museum curators get first devastating look inside after two years of warfare
In a statement, the RSF's aid commission blamed an air strike by the army, as did local activists. The army did not respond to a request for comment.
Al Koma is controlled by the RSF, and earlier this week saw a drone strike that claimed several civilian lives, according to local activists.
Famine conditions have previously been reported in al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur. The fighting and barriers to the delivery of aid put in place by both sides have cut off supplies.
The attack is the latest of several assaults on aid in recent days. It follows the repeated shelling of UN World Food Program premises in al-Fashir by the RSF and an attack on El Obeid hospital in North Kordofan that killed several medics late last month.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Sudan's military accepts UN proposal of a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher for aid distribution
CAIRO (AP) — Sudan's military agreed to a proposal from the United Nations for a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher to facilitate U.N. aid efforts to the area, the army said Friday. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called Sudanese military leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and asked him for the humanitarian truce in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, to allow aid delivery. Burhan agreed to the proposal and stressed the importance of implementing relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, but it's unknown whether the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces would agree and comply with the ceasefire. 'We are making contacts with both sides with that objective, and that was the fundamental reason for that phone contact. We have a dramatic situation in El Fasher,' Guterres told reporters on Friday. No further details were revealed about the specifics of the ceasefire, including when it could go into effect. Sudan plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into battles in the capital, Khartoum, and spread across the country, killing more than 20,000 people. The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine. UNICEF said earlier this year that an estimated 61,800 children have been internally displaced since the war began. Guterres said on Friday that a humanitarian truce is needed for effective aid distribution, and it must be agreed upon several days in advance to prepare for a large-scale delivery in the El Fasher area, which has seen repeated waves of violence recently. El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Khartoum, is under the control of the military. The RSF has been trying to capture El Fasher for a year to solidify its control over the entire Darfur region. The paramilitary's attempts included launching repeated attacks on the city and two major famine-stricken displacement camps on its outskirts.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Family clans try to secure aid convoys in Gaza from criminal lootings
Social Sharing As food and aid distribution in Gaza continues to be plagued with violence and death, influential clans and tribes that have long existed in the territory are trying to secure aid convoys entering the region. The National Gathering of Palestinian Clans and Tribes, which helped escort a rare shipment of flour in northern Gaza Wednesday, said they have begun their efforts together to guard aid convoys and prevent lootings. Aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip have been limited, leading to scenes of chaos as vulnerable civilians are largely left out when armed gunmen and Israeli forces cause ensuing violence. Alaa El-Din Al-Aklouk, one of the Mukhtars – community leaders elected by large families who make up the clans – announced the plan with other leaders on Wednesday. "The clans came together to send a message of safety and security to the Palestinian people," he told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife. "[The clans] will put in every effort to deliver aid to those who deserve it … without any violence or abuse from others." Since May 27, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 549 people have been killed and more than 4,000 have been wounded near the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites or as they waited for UN food trucks to enter. It is unclear how many of those killed or injured were shot by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as criminal gangs were also reported to be present, according to witnesses who spoke to CBC News. GHF has rejected accusations that its aid distribution centres are dangerous, saying it delivered aid in a "secure, controlled, accountable manner — eliminating the risk of diversion." War crimes investigation The latest efforts to secure aid come as Israel's Military Advocate General ordered an investigation Friday into possible war crimes over allegations that Israeli soldiers were ordered by the army to deliberately fire at Palestinians attempting to reach aid distribution sites, according to an exclusive report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Haaretz said that officers and soldiers, who were unnamed, revealed that commanders "ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat." In a statement to CBC News on Friday, an IDF spokesperson said the army rejects the accusation made by Haaretz, saying it does not instruct soldiers to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution sites. "In light of recent reports of incidents of harm to the civilians approaching the distribution centers, the incidents are being examined by the relevant IDF authorities," it said. The Israeli prime minister, meanwhile, denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday. "IDF soldiers receive clear orders to avoid harming innocent civilians — and they act accordingly," Benjamin Netanyahu said. Clan members armed with guns, sticks With the police infrastructure in Gaza crumbling in the midst of the war, clan members have taken up arms to secure aid trucks and ensure they get to non-governmental organizations (NGO) barracks safely and, eventually, to the people. As trucks entered through the Zikim area in western Gaza City Wednesday, armed and masked men from the clans lined the road – some with guns and others with sticks. They controlled the crowd and fired warning shots when someone got too close to the trucks. "The securing of the aid will be done by the men of our clans," Al-Aklouk said. "The clans took on the responsibility … so that it is delivered to every Palestinian household." There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants. After a two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it, something the militant group denies. Community leaders decry theft of aid Yazdan Al-Amawi, Gaza branch manager of Anera, an NGO that also operates in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan, said it securely received more than 20 pallets of aid in its first shipment Wednesday after more than 110 days, with the help of the clans. "It's been almost at the brink of famine [in Gaza]," Al-Amawi told CBC News. "We are so happy that the women and children and elderly will get rations out of those commodities soon." WATCH | Mounting deaths reported near GHF aid sites over past month: 'We saw death': Palestinians describe violence near GHF aid sites on Monday 11 days ago Duration 1:10 At least 20 people were killed and 200 others wounded in Israeli fire near an aid distribution site in Rafah on Monday, according to medics. The deaths are the latest in mass shootings that have killed at least 300 Palestinians in the past several weeks, Gaza's Health Ministry says, as they try to access food through the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's distribution system. Abu Salman Al-Mughni, another Mukhtar, said the theft of the aid was done by "bad apples" in the area who are not considered part of the community. He blamed businessmen for the thefts who then raised prices of goods in local markets. "The rights of the people are being stolen and sold in this manner," he said. "And this is something we will not accept nor will we tolerate." "We will no longer allow thieves to steal from the convoys for the merchants and force us to buy them for high prices," another man involved in the tribal effort, Abu Ahmad al-Gharbawi, told The Associated Press. Israel accuses Hamas of aid theft, halts distribution On Thursday, Israeli officials said that it would stop aid from entering northern Gaza for two days after a video circulated Wednesday showing dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks – video of the clan members offering security. But Netanyahu, in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz, accused Hamas of stealing aid, saying that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid. The National Gathering of Palestinian Clans and Tribes responded saying no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process. And Hamas denied any involvement. An Israeli strike hit a street in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah on Thursday where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. The strike appeared to target members of Sahm, a security unit tasked with stopping looters and cracking down on merchants who sell stolen aid at high prices. The unit is part of Gaza's Hamas-led Interior Ministry, but includes members of other factions. There was no comment from the Israeli military on the Thursday strike. Video of the aftermath showed bodies of multiple young men in the street with blood splattering on the pavement and walls of buildings. The dead included a child and at least seven Sahm members, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where casualties were taken. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent air and ground war in Gaza has killed around 56,331 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, more than half of them women and children.
Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Globe and Mail
Sudanese refugees brace for a new threat to life and limb
Arbab Sharif Ahmad, 33, survived a massacre during an ethnic cleansing campaign, but his five-year-old son was executed in front of him. As Mr. Ahmad fled from the Arab-led Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur in Sudan, a bullet shattered his knee. Over a year later, he lies in agony on the dirt floor of a makeshift hut in the remote Farchana refugee camp in eastern Chad, unable to walk properly and still awaiting surgery. 'One of my daughters, when she sees my injured leg or the crutches, she becomes scared and doesn't want to come near me,' he explains, adding that he now spends most of his days hiding inside his hut to avoid frightening her. Mr. Ahmad's story is echoed throughout Sector P1 of the new Farchana camp – known locally as the 'wounded sector'– which houses around 250 households of injured Sudanese refugees, most from the Masalit ethnic group. These families represent only a fraction of the more than 17,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad living with disabilities or severe medical conditions, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. For those who barely escaped the RSF, survival in Chad presents a new ordeal. The country's fragile health care system is overwhelmed by what humanitarian agencies now call the world's largest humanitarian disaster. Refugees with serious injuries are going without treatment. But the crisis is expected to worsen as critical healthcare programs face discontinuation. To support Chadian hospitals, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have brought in foreign surgeons, mainly from other African nations, says Dr. Blanche Anya, the WHO's representative in Chad. 'WHO funded emergency medical teams to provide care for the people that were wounded. But this is very expensive, so we cannot sustain it,' she says, noting that funding for the surgical teams is only guaranteed through June. Dr. Anya cites broader geopolitical forces that have worsened the crisis. U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the WHO, suspension of foreign aid and dissolution of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have collectively drained critical resources. While U.S. contributions represent less than 10 per cent of WHO's Chad budget, according to Dr. Anya, she says they have a disproportionate impact on key programs such as maternal care and polio eradication, where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also provided personnel. The cuts also affect NGOs working with WHO to deliver essential health services. '[If] those NGOs that were supported by the U.S. government do not have the capacity to continue providing health services, of course, this will have a big impact on lives and increase mortality,' she says, adding that a large part of the population will lose access to health services. 'The type of population that will be most affected will be the vulnerable population, children, women.' According to Dr. Anya, WHO Chad is now seeking alternative funding while also drafting a list that ranks programs by priority to determine which can be maintained and which may need to be cut. The RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been at war since April 2023. It's a conflict that has displaced millions of people, killed thousands and seen famines declared in parts of the country. In January, then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken classified the RSF's actions in Sudan as genocide. Survivors describe targeted killings of Masalit and non-Arab civilians by the RSF during their ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing in West Darfur. Those who remained behind have reportedly been forced to renounce their ethnic identity and identify as Arab. 'They are targeting people based on race. If you are Black, they will just kill you,' says Ayub Abdallah, 25, who was shot and stabbed seven times while fleeing the city of El Geneina in West Darfur. Khalil Ahmad Khalil, 30, was shot in the leg by RSF militants inside his home. One and a half years after fleeing to Chad, his leg remains fractured in the shin, essentially split into two pieces. Doctors told Mr. Khalil he needs surgery, but they lack the capacity to perform it. 'You can see it's not fixed. It just moves,' he says, pointing to the exposed bone beneath tattered dressings. 'I am suffering from a lot of pain . . . I stopped going to the doctors because, unfortunately, I've lost hope.' Jumah Bakhit, 31, the chief of the camp's P1 sector, warns that if more time passes, many cases will become untreatable, noting that some refugees have already died due to lack of care. In Farchana camp, the only health care facility is a small primary care clinic run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). According to a USAID Chad report, the NGO received US$5.3-million in 2024 from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration for its operations in Chad. But even that hasn't been enough. In a statement to The Globe and Mail, IRC confirmed that the clinic had experienced staff shortages in the past. Meanwhile, the organization in Sudan continues to face challenges related to qualified human resources, adequate infrastructure and the supply of drugs, consumables and other medical supplies. Patients with serious conditions are supposed to be referred to hospitals in nearby Adré or the city of Abéché. But in practice, many wait months without transfer, and even then, appropriate care is often unavailable. Kaltouma Khamis Arbab, 56, still has metal rods in her leg from a bullet wound that shattered the bones. The surgical hardware should have been removed months ago. She was told that the only facility capable of performing the procedure is in N'Djamena, Chad's capital 865 kilometres away by road – a trip she cannot afford physically or financially. 'This iron has been in my body for 13 months. It should have been removed last August,' she says. 'If nothing happens, we will try to remove it ourselves.' The risks in the camps extend far beyond lack of surgical care. According to Dr. Anya, the camps face continuous outbreaks of diseases such as measles, hepatitis E, malaria and yellow fever – driven by a combination of overcrowding, poor sanitation, malnutrition, limited access to clean water and the constant arrival of new refugees. Dr. Anya noted that the U.S. aid suspension would lead to a reduction in services and medical supplies, increasing the risk of disease transmission and higher mortality rates. 'The crisis is continuing, and resources are becoming very rare,' she says. For now, the wounded and sick are left waiting.
