The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said on Sunday it had temporarily suspended all operations in Sudan after three of its staff were killed in clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) a day earlier. , Reuters reports, according to News.ro.

Khartoum International Airport is shrouded in smoke due to fightingPhoto: AFP / AFP / Profimedia

“While we analyze the development of the security situation, we are forced to temporarily suspend all operations in Sudan. WFP is committed to helping the people of Sudan, who are facing acute food shortages, but we cannot carry out our rescue work unless the safety and security of our teams and partners is ensured,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in a statement.

Three WFP staff were killed and two wounded during clashes in Kabkabia, North Darfur.

A WFP spokesman told Reuters that three of the dead were Sudanese.

McCain also said WFP staff were struggling to work after a United Nations Humanitarian Aviation Service (UNHAS) plane was “significantly damaged” at Khartoum airport in Sudan during a firefight on Saturday.

According to him, the incident seriously affected the organization’s ability to move humanitarian workers and aid to Sudan.

Earlier on Sunday, the UN condemned the killing of WFP workers, saying they died in the line of duty.

Volker Perthes, head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission (UNITAMS), which was established in 2020 to support Sudan’s democratic transition, said in a statement that he was also “appalled by the reports that the shells they hit in UN and other humanitarian facilities, as well as the looting of UN and other humanitarian facilities in several places in Darfur.”

The power struggle between the Sudanese army and the RSF has so far killed 56 civilians and injured 595 people, including combatants.

Fighting broke out on Saturday between army units loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Force (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

It is the first such conflict since the two sides joined forces to oust President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2019.