A UN-contracted aid truck carrying 50 metric tons of humanitarian supplies to South Kordofan was destroyed in a drone strike near Tandulti, with local sources and activists accusing the SAF of carrying out the attack.
The truck, contracted by the UN refugee agency, was on its way to Abu Jubeiha when it was hit, according to Sky News Arabia, which cited local sources in the area. The supplies were intended for some of the most vulnerable communities in South Kordofan, where hunger and displacement have deepened under Sudan’s war.
The office of the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson confirmed in its daily briefing that the truck had been carrying humanitarian aid when it was struck near Tandulti, destroying the entire shipment.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the convoy was carrying food, blankets, water containers, tarpaulins, sleeping mats, plastic sheeting and kitchen supplies for communities badly affected by the conflict.
“As a result, thousands of people who depend on this assistance will now be deprived of the urgent relief they need,” Dujarric said.
He said the United Nations remained deeply concerned by the broader escalation of violence across Sudan and the rapid increase in humanitarian needs, adding that UN agencies continue to deliver aid wherever access is possible.
Dujarric called on the warring parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and urged donors to increase funding for Sudan’s growing humanitarian crisis.
The strike has intensified concern over attacks on humanitarian routes and infrastructure in Kordofan and Darfur, where aid agencies say access is already severely restricted by insecurity, fighting and deliberate obstruction.
It also follows a June drone strike on the Ardamata bridge in West Darfur, which the United States attributed to the SAF. The bridge is one of the key corridors used to move aid and relief supplies into large parts of Darfur and Kordofan.
Washington condemned the attack on the bridge, saying civilian and humanitarian infrastructure must not be targeted. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs also called for a humanitarian truce to allow aid to reach millions of Sudanese civilians, stressing that there is no military solution to the war.
UN officials have separately warned that rising attacks on roads, bridges and other civilian infrastructure threaten to further disrupt humanitarian access to areas devastated by the conflict.
Aid groups say the destruction of relief convoys and transport routes risks cutting off food, shelter and basic supplies to millions of civilians, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan, which remain among Sudan’s most urgent humanitarian fronts.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis cited in the report, around 19.5 million people in Sudan — about two in every five people — are facing acute food insecurity.
Around 135,000 people are facing catastrophic conditions and the threat of famine, especially in 14 hotspots across Darfur and South Kordofan. More than 5 million people are in emergency-level hunger, while around 14 million are in crisis-level conditions.
The situation is expected to deteriorate further between June and September, when food shortages usually worsen and aid access becomes even more difficult.
Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
