The University Hospital in the East Darfur capital, Al Deain, was hit on Friday night, a new low in the brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that broke out in April 2023.
According to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people killed has increased to 70, including seven women and 13 children, following the search efforts.
Among the deceased were also health workers (a doctor and two nurses), while the injured increased to 146 people, including patients and family members who accompanied them.
Health care is a frequent goal
Since the start of the conflict, the total number of deaths related to attacks on health facilities has exceeded 2,000 according to the WHO.
“An attack on a hospital is not just an attack on a building, it is an attack on people seeking care, on health workers who risk their lives to save others and on the very possibility of survival in times of crisis,” said Dr Hala Khudari, WHO Deputy Representative in Sudan.
“Sudan is approaching the third year of armed conflict, but attacks on healthcare continue,” he lamented, stressing that healthcare facilities, ambulances, healthcare workers and patients have been “repeatedly attacked.”
The attack on the university hospital has effectively closed it and patients “may have to travel more than 100 miles to reach the next referral hospital, which is very difficult for patients requiring specialized services,” the U.N. health agency official said.
He highlighted that Al Deain served as a referral hospital for more than two million people in the city, as well as in nine other towns in the state of East Darfur.
Hunt for the perpetrator
When asked who was responsible for the Al Deain attack, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) spokesperson Marta Hurtado said that while the perpetrators have not been identified, drones are widely used by both sides in the conflict.
“Our call is to both parties to immediately stop using this type of weaponry,” he said.
Hurtado warned of an increase in the use of drones to carry out airstrikes this year in Sudan, which “underscores the devastating impact of high technology and relatively cheap weapons in populated areas.”
More than 500 civilians were killed in such attacks between January 1 and March 15, it said, the vast majority in three states in the Kordofan region.
The deadly attacks continued last week, culminating in the attack on Al Deain as the month of Ramadan came to an end on Eid Al-Fitr.
Strike condemned in Chad
The UN Human Rights office spokesperson also said that “drone attacks are spiraling across Sudan.[’s] borders, with serious risk of further escalation, with regional consequences.”
He mentioned the deadly drone attacks last week in the town of At Tina, near the Sudan-Chad border, and in the border town of Tine in Chad, “following previous ground attacks by the RSF.”
“Continued patterns of attacks that hit civilians and destroy civilian infrastructure raise serious concerns about compliance with international humanitarian law, the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, and may constitute war crimes,” Hurtado concluded, calling for an end to “weapons transfers that fuel the conflict.”
