 MSF Holland, international aid organization operating in Chad and Darfur, underscored the strategic importance of these goods, stating that these "vehicles and communications equipment have a value beyond their monetary worth for armed actors, increasing their capacity to wage war"

A famous instance of humanitarian aid unintentionally helping rebel groups occurred during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war in the late 1960s, where the rebel leader Odumegwu Ojukwu only allowed aid to enter the region of Biafra if it was shipped on his planes.These shipments of humanitarian aid helped the rebel leader to circumvent the siege on Biafra placed by the Nigerian government.These stolen shipments of humanitarian aid caused the Biafran civil war to last years longer than it would have without the aid, claim experts.