United Nations Radio

The World Food Programme announced today the killing of a truck driver transporting vital food relief to Darfur, the second such killing in two months.

WFP's spokesperson in Khartoum, Emilia Casella, says this latest killing was particularly tragic because it was the driver's first-ever delivery trip to Darfur. The father of six children was attacked on Monday while he was fixing the truck, which had broken down. Ms. Casella says that due to the insecurity on the roads, WFP is only able to deliver about half the food it needs to feed more than 2.4 million people a month.

"Our operation is already severely affected by the banditry. Every day we should be delivering 1,800 metric tons of food to Darfur at this time of year, and we're only able to deliver 900 metric tons a day. And this is forcing us to cut the monthly ration in May by 42 percent."

There have been a total of 113 hijackings of humanitarian vehicles in Darfur this year, 60 of them carrying WFP aid.

Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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