Sudan’s paramilitary-turned-rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have repeatedly attacked the Darfur border town of Tina, with more than 123 injured people arriving at a hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières near the Chad frontier last week. A drone strike—with responsibility still unclear—also killed 17 people on the Chadian side of the border. Tina has been hosting large numbers of displaced Darfuris fleeing RSF attacks elsewhere. (TNH)
Map: PCL
WHO condemns deadly hospital attack in Darfur
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 21Â reported a devastating attack on Al Deain Teaching Hospital in Sudan that resulted in numerous deaths and injuries.
The March 20 attack in in East Darfur’s capital, Al Deain, killed over 64 people, including 13 children, as well as nurses, a doctor, and patients. Eighty-nine people were additionally injured and significant damage was inflicted to the hospital’s pediatric, maternity and emergency departments, rendering the facility non-functional.
The director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, condemned the attack and called for an immediate de-escalation of the conflict in Sudan. He noted that the incident raised the death toll from assaults on healthcare facilities to over 2,000, with 2,013 attacks on hospitals recorded during the nearly three-year conflict. Ghebreyesus emphasized that attacks on healthcare facilities not only cause human deaths but also have long-term consequences for communities by destroying critical infrastructure and depriving them of essential emergency and routine medical services amid ongoing armed conflict.
International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on health establishments and medical staff in times of armed conflict. The protection extends to the wounded and patients, as well as the medical staff’s equipment and means of transport. (Jurist)
Drones strike civilians across Sudan, prompting UN concern
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said March 12 that he is “appalled” by a surge in drone attacks on civilians in Sudan. More than 200 civilians were reported killed since March 4 in strikes across the Kordofan region and White Nile state.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, the recent wave of strikes has caused widespread civilian casualties across several regions. In West Kordofan alone, at least 152 civilians were reportedly killed in drone attacks attributed to the Sudanese Armed Forces. On March 4, a drone strike hit a market and hospital in the town of al-Muglad, killing at least 50 civilians. Three days later, strikes on markets in Abu Zabad and Wad Banda reportedly killed at least 40 civilians.
On March 10, a drone strike allegedly carried out by the Sudanese military struck a truck carrying civilians in al-Sunut, outside Khartoum, killing at least 50 people, including women and children. (Jurist)