Five aid workers were killed on Monday in an attack on a humanitarian convoy en route to El-Fasher, Sudan, a city besieged and facing imminent famine.
The assault occurred as the United Nations announced a “devastating milestone”: four million Sudanese have now fled across borders since the war began in April 2023.
The 15-truck convoy, organised by the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF, was attacked near Al-Koma village in North Darfur state.
The UN agencies reported that five convoy members died, several others were injured, and “multiple trucks were burned and critical humanitarian supplies were damaged.”
The agencies did not specify who was responsible for the attack, which took place in an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), currently at war with the regular army. Both warring factions, accused of using starvation as a weapon and obstructing aid, traded blame for the incident.
Credit: BBC
The convoy was delivering aid from Port Sudan and was “negotiating access to complete the journey to El-Fasher when it was attacked,” despite “parties on the ground” being notified of the trucks’ location.
The army-aligned government claimed RSF drones targeted the trucks, while the RSF accused the army of attacking with military aircraft.
Since the conflict began, Sudan has plunged into what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands have died, 13 million are displaced, and over a million people in North Darfur alone are on the brink of starvation.
The UNHCR reported today that the four million mark for cross-border refugees is a “devastating milestone,” warning that continued conflict threatens regional and global stability.
Neighbouring Chad, for instance, has seen 68,556 refugees arrive in just over a month, with an average of 1,400 daily crossings.
UNHCR’s Dossou Patrice Ahouansou described civilians “fleeing in terror, many under fire, navigating armed checkpoints, extortion, and tight restrictions imposed by armed groups.”
Paramilitary attacks in North Darfur have escalated as the RSF aims to secure control over the entire Darfur region after losing Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, in March.
El-Fasher, the only major Darfur city not under RSF control, has been under a brutal siege for over a year.
Since April, RSF shelling has killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands in the city and surrounding famine-stricken displacement camps.
Last Thursday, the WFP reported its facility in El-Fasher was “hit and damaged by RSF repeated shelling.”
The war has effectively split Sudan, with the army controlling the north, east, and centre, while the RSF dominates most of Darfur and the south.
Famine has already been declared in five areas, including three displacement camps near El-Fasher, and is all but confirmed in El-Fasher itself, though an official declaration is hampered by a lack of data access. Nearly 25 million people across the country face severe food insecurity.
