Militia Destroys Aid Convoy in Darfur Using Drones

The United Nations revealed on Sunday that a humanitarian aid convoy was struck by a drone while en route to the town of Tawila in North Darfur State, resulting in its complete destruction. Fingers have been pointed at the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia as being behind the attack on the convoy.

The RSF militia has previously attacked a number of UN humanitarian aid convoys in Darfur and Kordofan using drones. Both sides in the conflict have increasingly deployed drones in intensive strikes across Darfur, amid mounting accusations of attacks on civilian targets, including health and educational facilities, resulting in dozens of civilian casualties.

In a statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said a truck carrying relief supplies came under a drone attack in North Darfur on Friday, April 24, without attributing responsibility to any party.

The agency noted that the truck was transporting emergency shelter materials to Tawila, which hosts more than 700,000 displaced persons (IDPs) who fled fighting in other parts of Darfur. The driver survived uninjured, but the strike sparked a fire that completely destroyed the supplies.

The statement condemned the attack, warning that approximately 1,314 families in Tawila would be left without shelter. The town, under the control of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Al-Noor, has received large influxes of displaced residents from El-Fashir and surrounding villages, who are living in camps under severe humanitarian conditions and acute food shortages.