Sudan’s conflicting factions divide culpability for the Darfur relief convoy attack

A U.N. World Food Programme convoy was attacked while attempting to provide relief to a region of North Darfur where fighting and blockades have resulted in deadly hunger. The conflicting factions in Sudan’s civil war have exchanged responsibility for the incident.

The convoy was hit north of al-Fashir, the army’s last stronghold in the larger Darfur region, where the opposition Rapid Support Forces have been laying siege to an estimated 300,000 surviving people for a long time while battle rages.

The conflict began as a power struggle in April 2023 and has resulted in what the U.N. has called the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster, with both sides regularly blocking aid and launching attacks on it.

In a statement, WFP said, “On August 20, a WFP convoy of 16 trucks carrying life-saving food aid for the most vulnerable populations in Alsayah village came under attack near Mellit, a famine-affected area in North Darfur.” Three of the trucks caught fire, but no one was harmed.

A drone strike on Mellit market and other locations allegedly involved the Sudanese army striking the convoys, according to the RSF. This, the army later said in a statement, was a fiction to divert attention from what it described as the crimes committed by the RSF in al-Fashir.

Due to the RSF’s siege of al-Fashir, supplies have been cut off, and prices have increased. Last year, starvation spread to sections of the region, according to experts.

There have been direct attacks, drone strikes, and artillery shelling of civilians. Attacks on camps for displaced people have occurred on multiple occasions. RSF soldiers broke into the Abu Shouk camp in the city’s north last week, killing around 40 people, including by direct fire, according to local activists. The RSF refused to take accountability for the fatalities.

Individuals who depart from al-Fashir are subject to RSF checks and have experienced assaults, including sexual assaults.

About 70 trucks with supplies are waiting to reach al-Fashir in the RSF-controlled city of Nyala, but security assurances were required since aid workers were being attacked, according to Edem Wosornu of the U.N. humanitarian organization OCHA.

“We have food, we have medical supplies, we have kits for gender-based violence, we have life-saving equipment that will save lives,” she added.

In a statement last week, U.S. senior Africa advisor Massad Boulos denounced the convoy attack and urged the RSF to make sure aid reaches al-Fashir.