“On Saturday, MSF and the ministry of health suspended all activities in South Hospital, El-Fasher, North Darfur, after RSF soldiers stormed the facility, opened fire and looted it, including stealing an MSF ambulance,” said the NGO in a statement posted late Sunday on X.
According to MSF, “intensified fighting” around the hospital earlier this week had triggered its evacuation, and “there were only 10 patients and a reduced medical team” there by the time of the attack.
“Most patients and the remaining medical team… were able to flee the RSF shooting,” MSF said.
It noted that “due to the chaos, our team was unable to verify if there were any killed or wounded” in the latest attack.
The RSF has been fighting the army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, for control of the North African country since April 15 last year in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly eight million.
Michel-Olivier Lacharite, head of emergencies at MSF, said it was “outrageous that the RSF opened fire inside the hospital.”
“Warring parties must halt attacks on medical care,” he said, adding, “Hospitals are closing. Remaining facilities can’t handle mass casualties.”
Fierce fighting reignited in El-Fasher, the last state capital not under RSF control in the western region of Darfur and a key humanitarian hub for a region on the brink of famine, on May 10 in what UN chief Antonio Guterres has called “an alarming new chapter” in the conflict.
Since then, “at least 192 people have been killed and more than 1,230 wounded” in the city, according to a conservative estimate by the MSF.
