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Sudan’s army has denied responsibility for an air strike that hit a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy delivering aid to famine-stricken communities in Darfur.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which control the town of Mellit, accused the army of carrying out Wednesday’s attack. The WFP confirmed that three of the 16 trucks in the convoy were damaged and set ablaze, though all staff escaped unharmed.
“Humanitarian staff and assets must never be a target,” the agency said, calling on both sides to respect international humanitarian law. It added that it was still assessing the full impact of the strike.
The convoy had been travelling to a village near Mellit, about 90km (56 miles) northwest of el-Fasher, an army stronghold that has been under RSF siege for more than a year. El-Fasher has become one of the fiercest battlegrounds in Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in April 2023 between the army and the RSF.
The RSF has no air force, though both sides have deployed drones during the conflict. The strike adds to a growing pattern of assaults on humanitarian operations in Sudan. In June, five aid workers were killed in a similar attack in el-Fasher.
The war has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Tens of thousands have been killed, 12 million displaced, and more than 4.5 million refugees — mostly women and children — have fled to neighbouring countries. Aid groups accuse both sides of weaponising hunger by looting supplies and blocking access to food.
As famine tightens its grip, the attack on the WFP convoy underscores the extreme risks facing relief workers — and the desperation of civilians trapped by the fighting.
