Darfur: UN food agency decries killing of three contract truck drivers

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today decried the killing of three truck drivers who were shot to death while working for the agency in the violence-wracked Darfur region in Sudan.

“WFP is deeply saddened and shocked by the killings of these brave men, who knew the dangers they were facing but continued to work tirelessly to alleviate suffering and bring food to the hungry in Darfur,” said Kenro Oshidari, the agency’s Sudan representative.

WFP, which employs 20,000 contract drivers and their assistants in Darfur, has no information on who is responsible for the killings.

The three men worked for the Abbarci trucking company in Darfur, where the agency has its largest operation worldwide and distributes food to some 3 million people.

Two of the men were killed yesterday while returning to the city of El Obeid in South Darfur state after delivering supplies. This is the same Darfur region where 10 African Union (AU) peacekeepers were recently killed.

Meanwhile, the third man was killed last Friday, 12 October, during the Muslim holiday of Eid, in South Darfur on the road between Nyala, the state capital, and the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. During the incident, 25 bags of grain were looted from the truck.

The UN remains “seriously concerned about the safety of civilians throughout Darfur,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York today.

Rising insecurity in Darfur has lead to increased attacks against civilians, aid workers and AU troops. This is detrimental to the civilian population and is also impeding crucial life-saving aid programmes when they are most needed, she added.

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur and at least 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes because of fighting between the rebels, Government forces and allied militia known as the Janjaweed.

Some 4.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and nearly 90,000 civilians have fled recent violence in Haskanita and Muhajariya.

Earlier this year the Security Council authorized the creation of a hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, to try to quell the violence. The operation – set to become the world’s largest peacekeeping operation – is scheduled to take over from the existing AU mission by the start of next year.