WFP aid convoy attacked in Sudan's North Darfur, food relief trucks torched
According to the UN body's spokesperson, Gift Watanasathorn, who condemned the incident, all WFP staff are safe and accounted for. She similarly called on Sudan's warring factions to respect international humanitarian law.
A World Food Programme (WFP) aid convoy came under attack on Wednesday near the famine-hit town of Mellit in North Darfur, Sudan, disrupting delivery of vital humanitarian assistance to thousands already on the brink of famine.
The 16-truck convoy was transporting aid to vulnerable communities in Alsayah village when three vehicles were attacked and set ablaze. The incident follows a June ambush in which five aid workers were killed while travelling in a joint WFP-UNICEF convoy to El-Fasher.
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According to the UN body's spokesperson, Gift Watanasathorn, who condemned the incident, all WFP staff are safe and accounted for. She similarly called on Sudan's warring factions to respect international humanitarian law.
It remains unclear who carried out the attack, but it occurred in an area under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Mellit, located about 65 kilometres northeast of El-Fasher, came under RSF control in 2024.
The militia group has since accused the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of carrying out the attack.
"RSF strongly condemn the aerial attack carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), operating under the Islamic Movement militia, on a World Food Programme (WFP) relief convoy consisting of 16 trucks," RSF said in a statement, seen by The Eastleigh Voice.
"The systematic aerial bombardment of civilians constitutes a full-fledged war crime. It epitomises the terrorist practices of the SAF, controlled by the Islamic Movement in Sudan. SAF continues to obstruct the flow of humanitarian aid and repeatedly attacks international organisations operating in the region."
Human rights groups have accused both sides of using starvation as a weapon of war by looting convoys, obstructing deliveries and targeting relief operations.
Now in its third year, Sudan's civil war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced from their homes.
In North Darfur alone, the United Nations estimates more than one million people are on the brink of starvation, with famine already declared in several displacement camps surrounding El-Fasher.
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