Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission has condemned the attack carried out by the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which targeted—using drones—a number of trucks loaded with life-saving humanitarian assistance belonging to the World Food Programme. The attack took place on Friday in the Al-Lah Karim area, while the convoy was en route to El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State.
In a statement, the Commission said that this barbaric, unethical, and inhumane conduct clearly demonstrates the rebel militia’s blatant disregard for the principles and provisions of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and relevant regional standards and conventions. These include Article 14 of Additional Protocol II of 1977 annexed to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the starvation of civilians and the destruction of humanitarian aid as a method of warfare; Principle 26 of the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which forbids attacks on or destruction of humanitarian assistance; Article 7(h) of the African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, which prohibits attacks on humanitarian workers and the destruction of humanitarian aid; and Article 3(c) of the Jeddah Declaration on Commitment to Protect Civilians in Sudan, signed by the rebel militia in May 2023, which explicitly bans attacks on humanitarian assistance and relief vehicles.
The Humanitarian Aid Commission strongly denounced these attacks and the flagrant violations of international and regional legal frameworks governing humanitarian response operations, particularly at a time of escalating humanitarian needs among displaced persons and returnees across Sudan. It condemned, in the strongest possible terms, the militia’s barbaric behavior, and called on the international community to issue an explicit condemnation, designate the rebel militia as a terrorist organization, and list countries supporting it as state sponsors of terrorism.
