Drone strike kills 30 at one of Sudan’s few surviving hospitals

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Drone strike kills 30 at one of Sudan’s few surviving hospitals

A drone attack on one of the last functioning hospitals in El Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region killed 30 people and injured dozens, reports said on Saturday.

The bombing of the Saudi Hospital on Friday evening “led to the destruction” of its emergency building, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation.

It was not immediately clear which of

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

had launched the attack.

Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, who have seized nearly the entire vast western region of Darfur.

They have besieged El Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, since May, but have not managed to claim the city, where army-aligned militias have repeatedly pushed them back.

Last week, the RSF issued an ultimatum demanding army forces and allies leave the city by Wednesday afternoon in advance of an expected offensive.

Local activists have reported intermittent fighting since, including repeated artillery fire from the RSF on the famine-hit Abu Shouk displacement camp.

‘Sudan must not be forgotten’

On Friday morning alone, heavy shelling killed eight people in the camp, according to civil society group the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees.

The United Nations has voiced alarm, calling on both parties to ensure the protection of the city’s

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

– some two million people.

“The people of El Fasher have suffered so much already from many months of senseless violence and brutal violations and abuses, particularly in the course of the prolonged siege of their city,” Seif Magango, UN rights office spokesman, said Wednesday.

David Lammy, the *** Foreign Secretary, spoke on Friday while on a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to say that it “must not be forgotten”.

While there, he announced an additional £20 million in funding to support refugees fleeing Sudan as he visited a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

“Sudanese people are facing violence on an unimaginable scale. This is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world,” the Foreign Secretary said.

David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, says Sudan’s population is ‘ facing violence on an unimaginable scale’ – PA/Stefan Rousseau

According to the medical source, the Saudi Hospital’s emergency building had been hit by an RSF drone “a few weeks ago”.

Between December 9 and January 14, Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab observed three advanced drones at the RSF-controlled Nyala Airport, some 200km (124 miles) south.

In its report, it said the ********-made drones have “significant electronic surveillance and warfare capabilities and can be equipped with air-to-ground munitions”, but could not verify which countries had purchased them.

The United Arab Emirates has been repeatedly accused of funnelling weapons, including drones, to the RSF.

UN experts determined in December 2023 the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, but Abu Dhabi has issued repeated denials in the face of mounting international criticism.

In December, the UAE assured the outgoing administration of US president Joe Biden that it was “not now transferring any weapons” to the RSF.

The US concluded earlier this month that the paramilitaries were committing “genocide” in Darfur.

The RSF’s latest attempt to consolidate its hold on war-ravaged Darfur – a vast region about the size of France, home to a quarter of Sudan’s population – comes as the army claims significant victories elsewhere.

Both sides accused of war crimes

On Friday, some 800km east, the military regained control of a major oil refinery and broke a paramilitary

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

headquarters, which the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Earlier this month, the army successfully wrested control of key state capital Wad Madani, just south of Khartoum, from the RSF.

Since the war began, both the army and the RSF have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

Before leaving office on Monday, the Biden administration sanctioned Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese army chief, accusing the his forces of attacking schools, markets and hospitals and using

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Across the country, up to 80 per cent of healthcare facilities have been forced out of service, according to official figures.

In El Fasher, where ambulances and hospital buildings have been routinely targeted Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity, said this month that the Saudi Hospital was “the only public hospital with surgical capacity still standing”.

The war has so far killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million and brought millions to the brink of mass starvation.

In the area around El Fasher, famine has already taken hold in three displacement camps – Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al Salam – and is expected to expand to five more areas including the city itself by May, according to a UN-backed assessment.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Drone #strike #kills #Sudans #surviving #hospitals

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up