WFP condemns killing of two of its truck drivers in south Darfur

ROME, May 12, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — WFP condemned killing of two WFP-contracted truck drivers by bandits in attacks in South Darfur and warned that a spate of attacks this month were sabotaging its efforts ahead of the rainy season to provide food aid for more than two million people in the Darfur region.

WFP 6×6 all-terrain trucks stuck along the road from El Obeid in central Sudan to El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, last August 2004. (file/WFP)

On May 8, two WFP-contracted trucks were attacked by gunmen in two separate incidents in the same area on the road between Ed-Daen and Nyala in South Darfur. Two drivers were shot and killed and the drivers’ assistant on one of the trucks was shot and wounded.

In the first incident, a WFP-contracted truck carrying WFP food on the route from Ed-Daen to Nyala was attacked between Assalaya and Yassin and the driver was shot in the head. The truck, with its cargo intact, was recovered the next day when drivers of other vehicles found it on the road.

In the second incident, a WFP-contracted truck was attacked at Assalaya as it returned from Nyala to El-Obeid on the same route after delivering its load. The driver was shot and killed and the assistant, although wounded in one leg, managed to drive the vehicle back to Ed-Daen. Three other WFP-contracted trucks were shot at in the Yassin area on the same day but no one was hurt.

“WFP strongly condemns these attacks and extends its condolences to the families of the victims. Such attacks only make drivers extremely reluctant to transport food aid in Darfur and are making it very difficult to deliver enough food before the rains,” said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, WFP’s Country Director in Sudan.

“If we allow this status quo of violence and a general climate of lawlessness and insecurity to continue, we simply cannot reach all the people in need,” he said. “People’s lives are being needlessly lost at the very time when they are working to save lives. We need action now to stop this double tragedy.”

WFP Senior Deputy Executive Director Jean-Jacques Graisse, Regional Director Holdbrook Arthur and Lopes da Silva arrived in the South Darfur capital of Nyala on Wednesday to check on the situation and hold talks on insecurity and banditry with government officials and WFP’s partner non-governmental organisations.

WFP is also in talks with the African Union on how the banditry and killings can be prevented and roads secured for trucks and convoys carrying food and other aid into the three Darfur states.

On May 5, a convoy of 5 WFP-contracted trucks were stopped in North Darfur state between Kafod and Neni while heading toward Kutum. One truck was released but its load of 25 metric tons of sorghum was looted. A second truck was stolen but was recovered in Neni later that day.

A total of 11 WFP-contracted trucks are still missing in Darfur after a series of attacks since November last year.

In January, a driver of a WFP-contracted truck was shot and killed in Darfur. In April, a driver was shot and wounded in Darfur, another had his hands broken and another was severely beaten.

Despite the continuing insecurity, WFP delivered food aid in April to feed a total of 1.57 million people uprooted from their homes by conflict in Darfur and vulnerable members of host communities. On 7 May, WFP started daily flights airlifting food from Al Kufra in Libya direct to North and South Darfur, pioneering a new route to move as much food aid as possible before the onset of the rainy season.

“We estimated in November last year that we would need to be feeding 2.8 million people in Darfur at the height of the rainy season in July and August, but now we are planning for the worst and are looking at how we could get food for up to 3.25 million people in Darfur,” Lopes da Silva said.