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The victims were three boys and two girls aged between seven and 14, according to Etleva Kadilli, UNICEF Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
The attack came a week after an armed drone strike reportedly killed at least 80 people, including women and children, at a busy market in Abyei.
The market became a morgue
“The market is a place where families buy food and people work to earn a living. A trip to the market should not cost their children their lives,” said Ms Kadilli.
More than 400 children were reported killed or injured in Sudan between January and September this year. Armed drone attacks cause heavy casualties, UNICEF says. Drone strikes have also damaged homes, schools, health facilities, water systems and markets.
“For children in Sudan, even the most ordinary parts of daily life are becoming increasingly dangerous,” Kadilli said.
“After more than three years of conflict, children in Sudan need greater protection from violence, not new ways for conflict to reach them. The killing and harming of children must end.”
Haiti: Emergency food packages help families facing growing hunger
More than 5.9 million people in Haiti face high levels of acute food insecurity, amid a worsening hunger crisis caused by violence and this year’s strong El Niño.
That’s the warning from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O), which cites recent assessments showing that the island nation has one of the highest rates of hunger in the world today, affecting more than one in two people.
“Issues around violence impact people’s access to markets, access to land, and access to agricultural inputs,” said Rein Paulsen, Director of FAO’s Office of Emergencies and Resilience.
“In addition, of course we are also facing a very strong El Niño phenomenon, which is impacting many parts of the world. This is impacting the Caribbean, and for Haiti, this means much drier conditions than usual and higher temperatures.”
the specter of inflation
El Niño is expected to contribute to crop losses and delayed planting, pushing acute food insecurity in Haiti to more critical levels next year.
At the same time, inflation which reached around 17 percent eroded purchasing power and reduced household access to sufficient and varied food.
To help, FAO is offering an emergency aid package that includes seeds, poultry and ducks, as well as goats and other animals. This helps farmers to quickly produce milk and eggs for immediate sale on the market and gives them access to food to support their families.
Separately, the World Food Program (WFP) warned on Thursday that acute hunger would reach record levels, with around 6.35 million people expected to face acute food insecurity between March and June next year.
WFP has so far helped 2.6 million people by 2026 and needs $78 million to maintain operations through March.
The Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Haiti remains less than half funded.
Yemen: Critical medical supplies reach Taiz City, but access challenges remain
United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has sent emergency trauma and surgical equipment to hospitals facing acute supply shortages in Taiz City, which is almost completely surrounded by Houthi forces.
The life-saving shipment arrived in the city over the weekend and has been distributed to several facilities, according to a WHO update on Wednesday.
The agency noted that movement restrictions in Taiz City had forced community midwives to stop working. Access to Taiz province from government-controlled Aden and from the west coast also remains restricted.
WHO highlighted acute shortages of medicine, fuel and water in Taiz.
Disease factors
The report also warns of an increased risk of disease outbreaks: waste management is disrupted, and city dumps are too dangerous to reach due to ongoing conflict.
Further north, in Marib province, primary health services are on the “verge of collapse” due to funding cuts.
Only six of the 31 mobile medical teams are still operating and 15 health facilities are no longer functioning at all.
