The World - News from April 20, 1989

Gunmen attacked the first U.N. food convoy carrying famine relief into rebel-held areas of southern Sudan and forced it to return to Kenya, a U.N. official said. One of the trucks was blown up and two Kenyan drivers were wounded when the convoy came under fire near Kapoeta, in southeastern Sudan, said Nils Enqvist, the regional coordinator of the U.N. World Food Program for East Africa. Enqvist said that a military escort provided by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army vanished into the bush as soon as the shooting began, and the 16-truck convoy turned around and returned to Lokichokio. He said the United Nations will have to organize combat insurance for its drivers.