Sudan denounces the destruction of two hospitals in new RSF attacks in El Fasher, Darfur

Army chief rules out ceasefire in area, UN warns situation is “extremely volatile”

3 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Sudanese authorities have accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group of shelling two other hospitals in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and one of the epicentres of fighting in recent weeks as part of the war that broke out in April 2023 in the African country.

The governor of the Darfur region, former rebel leader Minni Minawi, has stated on his account on the social network X that the RSF “destroyed” a private hospital in the Grand Market of El Fasher, after which he denounced another attack by the paramilitaries against the Yebel Marra Hospital, with no information yet on victims.

“The militia has attacked all hospitals with high-precision artillery sent from the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” he said, in line with accusations leveled by Sudanese authorities against Abu Dhabi for its alleged support for the RSF, an allegation denied by the Emirati government.

The NGO Darfur Network for Human Rights has also confirmed a “heavy artillery” attack on the Yebel Marra Medical Complex, adding that “the attack has caused substantial destruction to the hospital’s infrastructure, severely impacting its ability to provide medical care.”

“Witnesses say that all medical facilities in El Fasher have already been completely destroyed by the RSF,” he said, stressing that “the number of victims and the broader implications for the town” of these attacks on the town’s medical facilities “have yet to be assessed.”

He therefore stressed that the increase in fighting “represents a significant deterioration of the conflict” and warned that “human rights violations are deepening the humanitarian crisis in the area,” according to a statement published through his official account on X.

The army has also announced the capture of a neighbourhood in the city of Omdurman, adjacent to the capital, Khartoum, following clashes with the RSF, in what it has described as “a significant success” against the “terrorist militia” led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, popularly known as ‘Hemedti’.

In this context, the head of the Armed Forces and leader of the Sovereign Transitional Council, Abdelfatá al Burhan, has reiterated his refusal to “go to the negotiating table” with the RSF in the Saudi city of Jeddah and has added that “there will be no ceasefire” in El Fasher until the paramilitaries withdraw from the area.

“We may lose battles, but we will not lose the war. Even if we lose soldiers, the Sudanese people are numerous. If we lose equipment, we will spare no expense to replace it,” he said, after the RSF captured the capital of Sennar state (southeast), Singa.

“We trust in the will of our people and the determination of our forces,” said Al Burhan, who said that the victory of the armed forces “is imminent,” as reported by the Sudanese state news agency, SUNA. “We are victorious and this enemy will disappear,” he promised.

UN ALERT

The spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, has reiterated in recent hours that the situation in Sudan “is extremely volatile.” “Unfortunately, the fighting is spreading to other parts of the country, which is having a huge impact on innocent civilians,” he lamented.

He pointed out during his daily press conference from New York that the number of displaced people has increased in recent days due to the clashes in Sennar, from where more than 60,000 people have fled, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“There are reports of insecurity in Abu Hujar and Al Dali in the same state. Most of these people are moving eastwards towards the neighbouring state of Gedaref,” he said, adding that humanitarian workers on the ground fear that the number of displaced people “will increase in the coming days.”

“Both we and our humanitarian partners are present in Gedaref and preparing food and nutritional supplies for the arrival of people who have fled their homes,” he said, before calling on the warring parties to reduce fighting in order to protect civilians and ensure “safe passage” for those trying to flee.

In this regard, he stressed that the “alarming” projections on food insecurity “confirm that Sudan is facing a hunger catastrophe on a scale not seen since the crisis in Darfur at the beginning of the century.” The country is also the largest displacement crisis in the world, with more than ten million internally displaced people and refugees.

Some 25.6 million Sudanese, more than half the population, will face acute food insecurity between June and September, including nearly 750,000 who suffer catastrophic levels of food insecurity, three United Nations agencies said last week, adding that 14 areas in the country are at risk of famine.

The war broke out on April 15, 2023, due to strong disagreements over the process of integrating the paramilitary group – now declared a terrorist organization – into the Armed Forces, a situation that caused the definitive derailment of the transition that began in 2019 after the overthrow of the regime of Omar Hassan al Bashir.