Sudan: Attack on Darfur Hospital Kills One, Wounds Five
An armed assault on a hospital in the war-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan killed one person, said medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), adding it had been forced to suspend operations, according to Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat on the 20th August.
Five people were also wounded in last week’s attack, one of them a health worker supported by MSF, it added.
Since the war between Sudan’s regular army and the Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023, more than 120 aid workers have been killed, according to the UN, AFP reported. War in the Darfur region has been raging on since April 2023, with the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces militia both accused of widespread abuses, including the targeting of civilians, looting, and attacks on medical and humanitarian facilities.
‘Humanitarian needs in Sudan have reached unprecedented levels. Yet those who step forward to help-our frontline aid workers-are being attacked, detained, harassed and even killed’ UN humanitarian coordinator Luca Renda said on the 19th August.
The hospital in Zalingei, capital of Darfur state, was attacked by armed relatives of a patient who had died of a gunshot wound. They then clashed with other armed individuals. Dharfur state has been at the epicentre of the Sudanese Civil War.
A hand grenade went off in front of the emergency room, causing the casualties reported.
The hospital was the sole referral facility serving a population of approximately 500,000 people, who are now grappling with a deadly cholera outbreak.
Sudan’s doctors’ union reports that around 90% of the country’s hospitals have been forced to shut down at various points during the conflict. Many have suffered repeated attacks, been raided by armed groups, and stripped of vital medical supplies.
Doctors have themselves been attacked and forced to operate on fighters at gunpoint.
Nearly 25 million people in Sudan face dire hunger, with millions cut off from life-saving as the war rages on.
Asharq Al-Awsat, Maghrebi.org
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