UN, US condemn RSF drone strikes on aid deliveries in famine-hit Sudan

The Sudan Doctors Network calls the attack in North Kordofan a ‘blatant violation of international humanitarian law’.

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have launched a series of drone attacks targeting humanitarian aid convoys and fuel trucks across North Kordofan, killing at least one person and wounding several others, officials and medical organisations said.

The North Kordofan state government condemned Friday’s strikes on a convoy linked to the World Food Programme (WFP), urging the international community and United Nations bodies to impose sanctions on the RSF paramilitary group’s leadership.

The attacks occurred along the key road connecting the state capital, el-Obeid, with Kosti in neighbouring White Nile state.

Fighting between the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF has intensified across the Kordofan region since October 2025 after el-Fasher fell to the RSF, where the group committed atrocities – a “crime scene” according to the UN.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the first strike at dawn hit three trucks in Er-Rahad.

A second attack followed in the Allah Kareem area near Es Samih, damaging four vehicles, including trucks carrying UN relief supplies.

In Um Rawaba, three drones struck a transport truck and a fuel tanker, causing additional civilian casualties. The WFP has not yet issued an official statement.

The Sudan Doctors Network said the convoy was delivering assistance to displaced communities in el-Obeid when it came under attack, describing the incident as a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law” and a war crime.

The group called for an independent investigation and stronger international measures to protect humanitarian workers and infrastructure.

Washington also condemned the incident. “The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others,” US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos wrote on X.

“Destroying food intended for people in need and killing humanitarian workers is sickening,” he wrote.

“The Trump Administration has zero tolerance for this destruction of life and of U.S.-funded assistance; we demand accountability and extend our condolences to all those affected by these inexcusable events and terrible war,” he added.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown said the trucks were travelling from Kosti to deliver life-saving food assistance to displaced families near el-Obeid when they were struck.

She noted that the attack followed another drone strike earlier in the week on a WFP-related facility in Yabus, Blue Nile state, which injured an employee.

The brutal conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, now approaching its third year, has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 11 million and pushed multiple regions into famine conditions.

UN estimates indicate that more than 21 million Sudanese face acute food insecurity, with two-thirds of the population requiring urgent humanitarian assistance. Tens of thousands have also fled to neighbouring Chad.