UN'gravely alarmed' by deteriorating situation in Sudan's el-Fasher The United Nations secretary-general has called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan's Darfur region after a deadly drone attack on Friday killed more than 70 worshippers in el-Fasher, expressing "grave" alarm about the "rapidly deteriorating situation". "The fighting must stop now," Antonio Guterres said in a statement issued by his spokesperson on Saturday, urging the warring parties to engage in dialogue and provide humanitarian corridors, with the brutal civil war wracking the nation in its third year. El-Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur region, remains the government-backed Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies' last major stronghold across Darfur. It has been under siege for more than a year by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which launched a renewed offensive to capture the city in recent weeks. Humanitarian organisations have raised alarm about growing hunger in the city as hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped without access to food, medicine and other essentials.

A drone attack has hit a convoy of 16 trucks carrying desperately needed food to Sudan's famine-hit North Darfur region, the United Nations said, as warring parties trade blame for the attack. UN spokesperson Daniela Gross told reporters on Thursday that all drivers and personnel travelling with the World Food Programme (WFP) convoy were safe. At least three of the trucks caught fire, according to a WFP statement quoted by the Reuters news agency. Gross said all trucks had caught fire, according to The Associated Press news agency. It was not yet clear who was responsible for Wednesday's attack, the second in the past three months to prevent a UN convoy from delivering to North Darfur.