Sudan's warring factions trade blame over strike on aid convoy in Darfur
The convoy was hit north of the city of al-Fashir, the army's only holdout in the wider Darfur region where an estimated 300,000 remaining residents have been subject to a long siege by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as fighting rages.
Aid has frequently come under fire and been blockaded by both sides in the war, which erupted from a power struggle in April 2023 and has caused what the UN has called the world's biggest humanitarian crisis.
"On August 20 a WFP convoy of 16 trucks carrying life-saving food aid for the most vulnerable populations in Alsayah village came under attack near Mellit, a famine-affected area in North Darfur," the WFP said in a statement, adding that three of the trucks caught fire but no one was hurt.
The RSF accused the Sudanese army of hitting the convoys as part of a drone attack on Mellit market and other areas. The army later said in a statement that this was a fabrication to distract from what it termed the RSF's crimes in al-Fashir.
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Daily Maverick
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TimesLIVE
7 hours ago
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Sudan's warring factions trade blame over strike on aid convoy in Darfur
The warring parties in Sudan's civil war have traded blame for an attack on a UN World Food Programme (WFP) convoy trying to bring aid to an area of North Darfur where fighting and blockades have led to deadly hunger. The convoy was hit north of the city of al-Fashir, the army's only holdout in the wider Darfur region where an estimated 300,000 remaining residents have been subject to a long siege by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as fighting rages. Aid has frequently come under fire and been blockaded by both sides in the war, which erupted from a power struggle in April 2023 and has caused what the UN has called the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. "On August 20 a WFP convoy of 16 trucks carrying life-saving food aid for the most vulnerable populations in Alsayah village came under attack near Mellit, a famine-affected area in North Darfur," the WFP said in a statement, adding that three of the trucks caught fire but no one was hurt. The RSF accused the Sudanese army of hitting the convoys as part of a drone attack on Mellit market and other areas. The army later said in a statement that this was a fabrication to distract from what it termed the RSF's crimes in al-Fashir.
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Sudan's Burhan shakes up army, tightens control
Sudan's army chief appointed a raft of new senior officers on Monday in a reshuffle that strengthens his hold on the military as he consolidates control of central and eastern regions and fights fierce battles in the west. Sudan's army, which controls the government, is fighting a more than two-year civil war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), its former partners in power, that has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan made new appointments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff a day after announcing the retirement of several long-serving officers, some of whom have gained a measure of fame over the past two years. Burhan, who serves as Sudan's internationally recognised head of state, kept the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Mohamed Othman al-Hussein, but appointed a new inspector general and a new head of the air force. Another decree from Burhan on Sunday brought all the other armed groups fighting alongside the army — including former Darfur rebels, Islamist brigades, civilians who joined the war effort and tribal militias — under his control.
