RSF Militia Detains 32 Aid Trucks in El Fasher, Demands Payments for Their Release

Khartoum – Sudanhorizon

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia detained 32 trucks carrying humanitarian aid belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP), which were en route to provide assistance to thousands of war-affected families in North Darfur.

Director of Social Welfare and Humanitarian Aid Coordinator for the Darfur Regional Government, Abdelbagi Mohamed Hamed, told the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) on Sunday that a convoy of 60 trucks entered through the Tina border crossing last week carrying food supplies. The convoy was headed to the localities of Kabkabiya, Al-Sireaf, Kutum, Tina, Kornoy, Um Baru, and Mellit, as well as the areas of Al-Sayah and Sortoni.

He explained that the convoy distributed 16 trucks in Mellit and Al-Sayah before the militia intercepted the remaining 44 trucks in Kutum locality and forcibly redirected them to the city of El Fasher. After three days of detention, only 12 trucks were released, while 32 remain detained to this day after the militia imposed large financial payments as a condition for their release, a practice he described as amounting to piracy, extortion, and blackmail.

He noted that the aid was urgently intended for displaced families facing the risk of famine, describing its detention as a fully-fledged war crime aimed at starving civilians, using food as a weapon, and deliberately obstructing humanitarian operations.

He renewed the regional government’s commitment to providing all necessary facilities to humanitarian organizations, calling on the international community and the United Nations to condemn this conduct and pressure the militia to immediately and unconditionally release the trucks.

The incident comes at a time when UN agencies have warned of a worsening food crisis in Darfur, where emergency thresholds have been exceeded and more than 60% of the population depends on humanitarian assistance. This makes any obstruction of aid convoys a direct threat to the lives of thousands and constitutes an explicit violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=18642