On 6 February a United Nations World Food Programme convoy was hit by a drone strike in the Al-Akrim area of North Kordofan while travelling to the state capital, El Obeid. A local medical network reported one person killed and three wounded; the convoy was carrying supplies intended for displaced civilians. The Sudan Doctors Network attributed the attack to the Rapid Support Forces, which had not issued a comment by evening.
The strike came as the convoy was delivering food and other relief to populations displaced by months of fighting across the Kordofan states. Humanitarian workers describe the area as increasingly contested, with front lines and supply routes shifting as the Sudanese Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces and allied groups such as the Sudan People Liberation Movement North vie for control. Attacks on aid deliveries risk severing lifelines for tens of thousands of civilians already reliant on external assistance.
The assault is the latest escalation in a conflict that began with open fighting between the SAF and the RSF in Khartoum in April 2023 and has since spread into multiple regions, including Kordofan. More than two years of sustained violence have killed nearly 30,000 people and displaced millions, creating a complex crisis of access for international agencies. The use of drones in attacks on humanitarian convoys signals both a technological intensification of the war and a growing disregard for the neutrality of relief operations.
The immediate consequence is likely to be a tightening of operations by the United Nations and partner agencies while they reassess security protocols and routes. Donor governments face hard choices about whether to increase funding and security support, or to pull staff out and scale back deliveries, either of which would deepen suffering. International actors may seek formal investigations and public condemnations, but the fractured command structures and competing narratives on the ground will complicate accountability and the reestablishment of safe humanitarian corridors.