In a new development reflecting the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Darfur region, the Sudanese National Observatory for Human Rights reported casualties as a result of the Sudanese army’s targeting of four humanitarian convoys with drones. The convoys were on their way to conflict-affected areas in North Darfur state.
In a press statement, the Observatory said that the targeted convoys belonged to the Jabal Awri emergency rooms and were traveling on the road connecting the city of Al-Tina and the Farok area northwest of Kutum, noting that the bombing affected areas used for purely humanitarian purposes, which it described as a “serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
The statement issued by the Observatory added that airstrikes and drone attacks on populated areas have serious humanitarian repercussions, considering that targeting humanitarian convoys amounts to “war crimes,” given that thousands of civilians depend on this aid to survive.
For its part, the Jabal Awri Emergency Room announced that four people were killed and others injured in a drone strike that targeted a commercial convoy traveling on the “Al-Tina-Um Farouk” road north of Kutum, in an incident that caused panic among local residents and further complicated the security and humanitarian situation in the area.
Aid as a bargaining chip:
Commenting on the incident, humanitarian activist Ibrahim Hamdoun told Sky News Arabia that the army “is not content with refusing to stop the war or agree to a humanitarian truce that would allow aid to reach those affected, but goes even further by bombing relief convoys and preventing them from reaching their destination, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in an unprecedented manner.”
Hamdoun added that these practices “put millions of civilians, especially in Darfur, at risk of hunger, disease, and death,” holding the international community responsible for what is happening because of “its passive stance and inability to take deterrent measures to ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers.”
Warnings of a humanitarian disaster and increasing international isolation:
This escalation comes at a time when large areas of Sudan are witnessing a near-total collapse of health and food services, with humanitarian aid difficult to deliver due to ongoing fighting and insecurity in many areas.
Observers believe that the targeting of aid convoys reflects the use of humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip in the ongoing conflict, and points to a decline in commitment to the rules of war and the protection of civilians.
They warn that continuing this approach could lead to greater international isolation for the parties to the conflict and undermine any political or humanitarian efforts to contain the worsening crisis in Sudan.
With the war continuing and relief access disrupted, more than 21.2 million people in Sudan are suffering from acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme, while the number of displaced persons has exceeded 13 million, including 9.3 million internally displaced persons and 4.3 million refugees in neighboring countries, in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that is escalating warnings of the risk of famine in the absence of effective political and humanitarian solutions.
