The suspension of operations comes amid a cholera outbreak.
MADRID, 20 (EUROPA PRESS)
The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has suspended its activities at the main hospital in Sudan's North Darfur state following an armed attack on its facilities over the weekend, which left one dead and five injured, including a Ministry of Health employee.
MSF has announced that, amid a cholera outbreak, it has been "forced to reduce" its teams and suspend medical activities at Zalingei Hospital, and has warned that it will not be able to resume them until all parties provide clear safety guarantees to protect staff and patients.
"Suspending our activities and evacuating our teams is a decision no medical organization wants to make, but our staff cannot risk their lives while providing assistance," said MSF's emergency coordinator in Darfur, Marwan Taher.
The attack took place Saturday night when a hand grenade was thrown outside the emergency room after relatives of a man shot and killed in a robbery clashed with armed individuals accompanying another patient, also suffering from gunshot wounds.
"One person has already lost their life, and more could have died if it had happened during the day, when the hospital was full of patients," Taher said, stressing that attacks on hospitals and medical staff "are unacceptable and put lives at risk" and that the local population "urgently needs healthcare and their access to it must be protected."
In recent days, MSF warned that a cholera outbreak that has been ravaging Sudan for months, considered one of the most serious in recent history, has caused at least 40 deaths in the Darfur region in just one week, and called on the international community to respond urgently to this "catastrophic" situation.
Adding to this situation is the war between the Army and the RSF, which broke out in April 2023 due to strong disagreements surrounding the process of integrating the paramilitary group—now declared a terrorist group—into the Armed Forces, which caused the definitive derailment of the transition that began after the 2019 overthrow of Omar Hassan al-Bashir's regime in a military coup.
