Sudan's warring factions are consistently targetting aid and humanitarian workers

Sudan's warring parties are exacerbating a dire humanitarian crisis by targeting aid convoys, population centers and vital infrastructure, say civilians, foreign relief workers and analysts.

One of the latest incidents took place on 19 February, when a drone strike hit a United Nations food convoy, killing three people and injuring four aid workers in the contested region of South Kordofan.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were allegedly behind the strike, according to the Sudan Doctor's Network. The local monitor said it was the second time the group targeted an aid convoy in less than a month.

"The trucks, loaded with food and humanitarian supplies, were en route to the cities of Kadugli and Al-Dilling after a blockade lasting nearly three years had recently been lifted," the monitor said in a post on X.

The New Arab contacted Alaaeldin Nugud, the spokesperson for the RSF-backed TASIS political alliance, who claimed that the allegations against the RSF amounted to "propaganda."

Both belligerents have a history of denying responsibility for attacks on civilians, contradicting credible monitors and evidence.

Exploiting aid to wage war

Over the last week, the RSF and the regular army, known as the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), have targeted schools, markets and water wells—mostly with drones. They have also hit aid crossings, thereby disrupting the ability of foreign aid groups to reach needy civilians.

The strikes have killed hundreds of civilians and compounded what relief groups and the UN describe as the largest humanitarian crisis by most measures.

Nearly half of the country's population—some 21 million people—are facing acute crisis levels of food insecurity, or worse, and more than 13 million have been uprooted from their homes.

Despite the catastrophe, SAF and the RSF continue to obstruct humanitarian aid and destroy basic provisions, according to analysts.

"The warring parties don't view humanitarian aid as humanitarian aid. They view it as potentially going to the opposing faction," said Hamid Khalafallah, an expert on Sudan and a PhD candidate at The University of Manchester.

Both parties have used the pretext of humanitarian aid to try to smuggle in weapons throughout the war.

At the start of the war, the UAE opened a hospital in Amdjarass, Chad, ostensibly to treat civilians. US intelligence officials and UN experts later said the hospital quietly treats RSF fighters and conceals weapon transfers to the group.

The UAE later opened another so-called hospital in Abeche, Chad, for the same purpose in April 2024. The wealthy Gulf nation has repeatedly denied backing the RSF, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

A western diplomat described another incident in January 2025 in which SAF allowed an aid convoy to cross the battlelines and reach besieged civilians in Omdurman, the largest city in Khartoum state.

Yet SAF exploited the lull in fighting to bring military reinforcements to the front lines. The diplomat believes SAF wouldn’t have eventually captured Omdurman without that manoeuvre.

"Trust is just so low now between the two sides when it comes to allowing aid in," the diplomat told TNA.
 

Provisions and infrastructure

The belligerents are also increasingly targeting key provisions and infrastructure that communities depend on for survival.

On 19 February, the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, SAF launched a drone strike at the village of Umm Rasuma in West Kordofan, targeting the main water well.

At least 26 civilians were killed, and 14 were injured, according to the local monitor, the Darfur Network for Human Rights (DNHR).

Four days earlier, SAF hit a market in Sudari locality, North Kordofan, killing 28 civilians, while the RSF struck two schools in South Kordofan, killing scores of people.

"These latest killings are yet another reminder of the devastating consequences…of the escalating use of drone warfare in Sudan," said Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"They also perpetuate a pattern that we have seen time and again in this conflict of attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure, including markets, health facilities and schools," Turk added.

Hager Ali, who closely follows military developments in Sudan as a researcher with the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, concurs that infrastructure has been targeted since the beginning of the war and that drones are compounding the consequences of this tactic.

"Part of what drones can do—which conventional aircraft can't do—is that they can hover above places; they can monitor roads for hours or days without the need to deploy anyone there," she told TNA.

"This makes it very easy [for the belligerents] to identify the infrastructure [behind enemy lines]," Ali added.

Aid crossings and gatherings

Since the RSF committed genocidal violence while capturing North Darfur's capital of El-Fasher in October 2025, SAF and its regional patrons have intensified airstrikes to target critical supply lines.

However, the barrage of SAF drones in Darfur is seriously disrupting the flow and pathway of aid convoys, say foreign relief workers and civilians.

The spokesperson for Darfur's internally displaced people (IDPs), Adam Rojal, told TNA that there has been a noticeable decline in the arrival of aid convoys since the start of the year.

He attributes the decline to the escalating drone and air strikes on Darfur.

"The SAF drone strikes targets where people tend to gather…and this makes people worried about approaching aid convoys because they know they might be hit," he told TNA.

A western relief worker, who was not authorised to speak to the press, added that humanitarian workers grew concerned last week after SAF targeted a fuel storage in a market in Adikong, West Darfur, a town straddling the border with Chad.

"[SAF] literally [hit] the road that is used by all humanitarian to get into Darfur," the relief worker said.

"We have no choice but to still use [the road], but it's [getting] very scary," the source added.

Rojel said that the attack on the fuel storage has caused the prices of basic commodities to soar due to rising transportation costs.

He added that drones are terrifying residents in Darfur as they constantly buzz and roam around in the skies.

"The situation over the last few weeks has gotten really bad," he said to TNA. "People are fearful that they could be attacked at any time…especially if they approach aid convoys or markets."