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Sudan’s army has denied bombing a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy taking aid to a famine-hit area in the country’s Darfur region.<\/p>\n
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had blamed the army for Wednesday’s air strike in the town of Mellit, which is under RSF control.<\/p>\n
A UN agency said a drone hit the convoy, and three lorries in the 16-vehicle convoy caught fire and were destroyed. All staff travelling in the convoy were safe, it added.<\/p>\n
Sudan plunged into a civil war in April 2023 after a vicious power struggle erupted between the army and the RSF, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
The RSF does not have an air force, but both sides use drones.<\/p>\n
The attack is the latest in a string of assaults on humanitarian operations in Sudan.<\/p>\n
“Humanitarian staff and assets must never be a target,” the WFP said, urging the warring parties to respect international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n
The convoy was headed towards a village near Mellit, a “famine-affected area” some 90km (56 miles) north-west of el-Fasher, the WFP said. The city, the army’s last foothold in the Darfur region, has been besieged by the RSF for more than a year.<\/p>\n
It is one of the main areas of conflict in the civil war, and the RSF has intensified its battle for control of el-Fasher in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Both sides have previously been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war by obstructing the delivery of aid and looting food.<\/p>\n