Sudan: UN Alarmed After Attack on Hospital
Victims of the conflict between RSF and the Sudanese Army June 2024 Photo: X/ @FocusOnAfricaIt
June 10, 2024 Hour: 4:44 pm
According to reports from the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, armed troops also stole equipment and an ambulance.
On Monday, the UN warned that the increase in violence and attacks on medical facilities in Sudan is alarming, after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a major hospital in Darfur.
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is the only facility with surgical capacity in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
“The closure of the hospital after the attack has forced the other two hospitals there beyond capacity, further limiting access to life-saving services,” the health agency added.
The facility was closed after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldiers entered the building and opened fire.
According to reports from the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, armed troops also stole equipment and an ambulance.
Earlier, UN human rights chief Volker Türk condemned the attacks on health facilities, warning of the use of weapons with wide-ranging effects, including artillery shells, during the RSF attacks.
The statement rejected another attack on a health facility in Wad Al-Nura in Al-Jazirah state, south of Khartoum, which killed a nurse.
The Human Rights Office described the impact of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF in El Fasher, in the far west of the vast country, as deeply devastating.
The UN estimates that 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people remain besieged in the city “and at imminent risk of starvation”.
According to the agency, any further escalation “would have a catastrophic impact on civilians and deepen inter-communal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences”.
Other overall figures claim that 18 million people are acutely food insecure in Sudan, a figure that has almost tripled since 2019, while almost five million are suffering from emergency levels of hunger.
A recent statement from the World Food Programme (WFP) found the ongoing violence and its impact in hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid to those most in need alarming.
About 90 percent of those living in emergency conditions are in areas where access is extremely limited due to heavy fighting, the agency said.
“The situation is already catastrophic and has the potential to get even worse unless support reaches all those affected by the conflict,” WFP regional director Michael Dunford said.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: The Star- UN
