Rome: The head of the Rome-based United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has said that the organization will temporarily halt its humanitarian activities in Sudan. WFP executive director Cindy McCain said on Sunday that she was shocked by the death of three workers in Kabkabia district of North Darfur state in Sudan, a news agency reported. In a statement, McCain confirmed reports that the staffers were killed while performing their life-saving duties in the midst of a global hunger crisis. He said two other WFP workers were also injured in the same attack. According to media reports, all the workers who died were citizens of Sudan.
In a separate incident on Saturday, WFP said an aircraft belonging to WFP’s humanitarian air service was seriously damaged at Khatroom International Airport. McCain said that any loss of life in humanitarian service is unacceptable and I call for immediate steps to be taken to guarantee the safety of those people. Aid workers are neutral and should never be targeted. The threats our teams are receiving make it impossible for them to work safely and effectively in the country and carry out WFP’s important work.
McCain said that WFP would temporarily suspend all of its activities in Sudan while it reviewed the security situation in the war-torn country. WFP is committed to helping the Sudanese people facing severe food insecurity, but we cannot do life-saving work if the safety of our teams and partners is not guaranteed, he said. Violent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) broke out in Khatroom and other towns on Saturday.
Sudan’s Central Doctors’ Committee said at least 56 civilians were killed while more than 595 were injured, including soldiers in critical condition. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the fighting between the two armies. His spokesman called on both sides to stop the fighting immediately.
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