Aid Group RSF Attack Forces Closure of al-Fashir Hospital in Sudan

Photo : AFP

From May 10 to June 6, approximately 1,315 wounded individuals arrived at South Hospital in al-Fashir, Sudan, and 208 people succumbed to their injuries. However, the ongoing conflict has prevented many more from reaching the facility. The hospital, a critical healthcare center in al-Fashir city, has been attacked by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and rendered non-operational, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which supports the facility.

Al-Fashir, located in the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan, is home to over 1.8 million residents, including a significant number of displaced persons. The city has become the latest battleground in the war between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023. The RSF, having gained control over the capital Khartoum and much of western Sudan, is now pushing further into central regions. United Nations agencies have warned that the population of Sudan faces an "imminent risk of famine."

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The United Nations reports that around 130,000 people have been displaced from their homes in al-Fashir due to the fighting in April and May. Despite multiple attempts, the RSF did not respond to requests for comments on these developments.

South Hospital was the only medical facility in al-Fashir equipped to handle large-scale casualties on a daily basis. MSF expressed outrage over the RSF opening fire inside the hospital, highlighting that this was not an isolated incident. For weeks, staff and patients have endured attacks on the facility from all sides, but firing inside a hospital marked a significant escalation. Michel Lacharite, head of MSF emergencies, condemned the action in a statement.

Following repeated impacts from fighting, the hospital began evacuating patients after being hit three times since May 25. The remaining patients and staff were eventually able to flee. The al-Fashir Emergency Response Room, a volunteer group, reported several casualties and injuries from the attack, along with the looting of medicine and an ambulance.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of people evacuating the hospital under duress, with reports of the RSF launching missiles at the hospital and its vicinity. On Saturday, a separate attack on the Abu Shouk camp north of the city affected another medical center, resulting in over 30 injuries and at least two fatalities, according to the camp committee and a volunteer.

The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab reported last week that since March, approximately 40 settlements around al-Fashir have been targeted with arson attacks. Local residents have attributed these attacks to the RSF. 

Leaving al-Fashir has become perilous, with accounts of fleeing residents being attacked or even killed on the main RSF-controlled road out of the city. Most of those escaping have taken routes either south to the Zamzam camp or west to the Tawila and Jebel Mara areas, which are controlled by various armed groups, including the Sudan Liberation Army faction led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour, according to an aid worker and local residents.

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