3 WFP drivers killed in Sudan

2008-03-26 13:22

Khartoum - Three Sudanese truck drivers contracted to deliver food aid for the World Food Programme have been shot dead, the UN agency said on Tuesday, calling for an end to such attacks.

Unknown gunmen killed one driver and seriously wounded his assistant on Monday on the main route to Nyala, the state capital of South Darfur.

Six assailants on Saturday stabbed to death two truckers on a riverbank in Abiemnom, Unity State, as they were carrying food to Abyei, the oil-rich flashpoint area on the border between north and south Sudan.

"This situation is completely unacceptable. Drivers who are delivering WFP humanitarian assistance and our contracted trucking companies are facing daily acts of violence," said WFP representative to Sudan, Kenro Oshidari.

"Attacks like this must stop. All parties must recognise that the drivers of humanitarian vehicles and their cargo are serving a neutral humanitarian purpose," Oshidari said.

Two weeks ago, the WFP said escalating banditry had halved food deliveries in Darfur with truckers unwilling to risk driving on dangerous roads.

WFP said 56 trucks had now been involved in hijackings this year and that 24 drivers remained missing.

The previous WFP-related killings were in October after three contracted drivers were murdered while transporting food to Darfur, the war-torn and desperately poor western region of Sudan.

- AFP