Doctors Without Borders (MSF) say Sudan’s al-Fashir city hospital has been put out of service and shut down, following an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The city in northwestern Sudan has more than 1.8 million residents and mostly displaced people. It is the new front for confrontation between the warring Sudanese army and the RSF which began in April 2023.
At the moment, the RSF, which controls the capital, Khartoum and most of western Sudan, is looking to advance further within the centre, as United Nations agencies say the people of Sudan are at “imminent risk of famine”.
As a result of the fighting in April and May, at least 130,000 people fled their homes in al-Fashir.
According to MSF, South Hospital was the only hospital in al-Fashir with the capacity to handle daily mass casualty events.
“It is outrageous that the RSF opened fire inside the hospital. This is not an isolated incident – staff and patients have endured attacks on the facility for weeks from all sides, but opening fire inside a hospital crosses a line,” said Michel Lacharite, head of MSF emergencies in a statement.
The hospital had previously started evacuating patients after being impacted by fighting three times since May 25, and the remaining patients and staff were able to flee.
The al-Fashir Emergency Response Room, a volunteer group, said on Sunday that several people were murdered and injured in the attack and that medicine and an ambulance were looted.