United Nations Radio

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has expressed relief at the release of four drivers from the State Water Corporation in North Darfur.

They were abducted more than a week ago and have now been reunited with their families. However, the UN children's agency says valuable drilling equipment - which was part of a project to provide clean water for tens of thousands of people in North Darfur - has not been recovered.

UNICEF has warned that if staff from the State Water Corporation are now reluctant to continue operations after this recent attack, up to 400,000 people could ultimately be affected as water provision could be scaled back across the three Darfur states.

Earlier this week the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan protested the intolerable attacks that are putting the humanitarian operation and the welfare of the people of Darfur in jeopardy. These include the hijacking of 56 World Food Programme contracted trucks and the abduction of 29 of their drivers.

Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.