Sudan accuses the RSF of “occupying” twelve health centers, including a laboratory with “biological risk”

28 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Sudanese authorities have accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of “occupying” a total of twelve hospitals and medical facilities, including the National Public Sanitary Laboratory, where there is a “very high biohazard danger”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has indicated in a statement that it has filed a complaint with the WHO for the actions of the RSF, which it has called “shocking”, “barbaric” and “contrary to all principles and norms”, as reported. the Sudanese state news agency, SUNA.

Thus, he has stressed that the actions of the paramilitary force “represent a flagrant violation of Humanitarian Law” and has demanded that the WHO and the United Nations “condemn this act in the strictest manner” and “demand its immediate withdrawal from all institutions and medical facilities.

The WHO representative in Sudan, Nima Said Abid, said on Tuesday that there was a “very high biohazard danger” after one of the parties to the conflict in Sudan seized the facilities of the National Public Sanitary Laboratory, without specifying who would be behind the takeover of the building.

“With the power cuts, it is not possible to properly manage the biological materials stored in the laboratory for medical purposes,” he said, before noting that the danger stems from the lack of operating generators in the facilities and noting that the stored blood bags could spoil.

The National Public Health Laboratory states on its website that tests on various pathogens are carried out at the facilities, including coronavirus, tuberculosis, measles and poliomyelitis, being the reference laboratory for this type of test in the capital of Sudan .

The hostilities broke out on April 15 in the context of an increase in tensions around the integration of the RSF –led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias ‘Hemedti’, who is also vice president of the Sovereign Transition Council– in the within the Armed Forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and reactivate the transition.

The talks process began with international mediation after the head of the Army and president of the Sovereign Transition Council, Abdelfatá al Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that overthrew the then prime minister of unity, Abdalá Hamdok, appointed to the position as a result of contacts between civilians and the military after the April 2019 riot, which ended 30 years of the regime of Omar Hasan al Bashir.