Sudan: Hospitals attacked in West Darfur

Bakri Abubakr, MSF operations manager for Sudan, gave the following statement today:

The violent attacks started in Kreinik over the weekend. Our teams received confirmation that the hospital that we support was attacked in Kreinik. Three people, including two medical workers, were killed. The hospital's pharmacy was also looted. MSF teams were not present at the facility at the time, having returned to our permanent base in El Geneina on April 19.

Yesterday, El Geneina Teaching Hospital, in West Darfur's capital city, experienced a violent intrusion, with shooting taking place inside the facility, including the emergency room. MSF staff were working in the hospital with the hospital staff. Health workers, including those from MSF, were evacuated.

We are shocked by these attacks and send our sincere condolences to the families of those who have been killed. We condemn these deadly intrusions in the strongest possible terms. In conflict, medical structures and staff are protected—this has to be respected by all parties to any conflict at all times.

As a result of the ongoing violence and insecurity in the different parts of West Darfur, including these deadly attacks on two hospitals, MSF teams have not been able to reach the health facilities we support nor conduct mobile clinic activities in El Geneina, and we cannot return to Kreinik. We are incredibly worried about the impact this will have on people who have faced waves of violence, preventing them from seeking the medical care they need and leaving them in dire need of assistance even prior to this attack.

Our teams are closely following the security situation to ensure that we can start working to provide much-needed medical care and humanitarian assistance as soon as it is safe to do so.

MSF in West Darfur

MSF works in multiple areas of West Darfur state. We provide humanitarian assistance and primary health care services to both the internally displaced and local communities through fixed and mobile clinics in and around El Geneina city. We also support El Geneina Teaching Hospital and have recently started supporting the internally displaced and host communities in the Kreinik locality through mobile clinics and by supporting the main health care facility in Kreinik town. MSF has worked in Sudan since 1978. MSF's current activities are based in Khartoum, Gedaref, Blue Nile, Kassala, East Darfur, West Darfur, South Darfur and Central Darfur, with emergency teams in other areas of Sudan as needed.