A Sudanese rights group said on Sunday that civilians were killed and injured after SAF drones targeted four humanitarian convoys in North Darfur, the latest in a series of allegations accusing the military of attacking aid operations since the outbreak of the war in April 2023.
The Sudanese Observatory for Human Rights said the convoys, linked to emergency response groups in Jabal Awri, were struck along the road connecting the town of Tina to the Frouk area, northwest of Kutum locality in North Darfur state.
In a statement, the observatory accused General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) of continuing what it described as a “systematic bombardment policy that extends even to locations meant to serve as safe havens.”
“Targeting residential areas through airstrikes or drone attacks is not only a humanitarian tragedy, but constitutes a war crime,” the statement said, adding that such incidents have continued without accountability.
The Jabal Awri Emergency Room in North Darfur said four people were killed and several others wounded when a drone strike hit a commercial convoy traveling on the Tina–Umm Frouk road north of Kutum. It added that the attack completely destroyed the convoy’s vehicles and damaged goods, and called on human rights organizations to intervene to protect civilians in conflict zones.
The accusations come amid a pattern of similar incidents. Last month, an attack struck a United Nations facility in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state, killing six peacekeepers. In November, an aid convoy traveling from Zalingei in Central Darfur to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, was subjected to what activists described as a heavy air assault by the SAF, leaving dozens of civilians and humanitarian workers dead or wounded.
In August, a World Food Programme convoy consisting of 16 trucks carrying food assistance was also targeted in a drone attack, according to humanitarian sources.
Rights groups say the repeated targeting of civilians and aid convoys highlights the absence of protection and accountability mechanisms, while underscoring the severe challenges facing humanitarian operations in Sudan at a time when the majority of the population depends on emergency assistance.
Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict between army chief and head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces.
The war, fueled by both domestic and foreign involvement, has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 40,000 people have been killed, more than 12 million displaced — around 30 percent of the population — and vast areas of the country devastated.
