Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended all its outreach activities in Central Equatoria State’s Yei River County until further notice following a critical security incident involving its staff and staff from a partner organization on Friday, 20 September 2024.
According to a press statement on Tuesday, MSF strongly condemns the attack against health workers in an area where people already face difficulty accessing healthcare.
Iqbal Huda, fondly known as Tidal, the MSF Head of Mission in South Sudan, the medical charity is deeply shocked by this unacceptable attack on the provision of neutral and impartial humanitarian assistance for communities in need.
“As a result of the attack, our outreach movements and activities to communities surrounding Yei and Morobo have been suspended until we can have concrete guarantees that medical, humanitarian services and lifesaving work can continue unhindered in the area,” he stated. “At approximately 3 p.m. last Friday, two clearly marked MSF vehicles were coming back to the town of Yei from an outreach activity when along the road unknown armed men forced our staff to disembark from their vehicles at gunpoint while looting MSF and personal belongings.”
“The armed men then forcibly took an MSF staff and one staff of a partner organization to the bush while letting the two remaining MSF staff, the drivers, proceed with their vehicles,” Huda added.
According to MSF, while the two abducted staff were safely released 24 hours later, this is the third attack on humanitarian organizations occurring around Yei in 3 months pointing to a systematic attack on the provision of humanitarian aid.
“Until the safety of MSF operations and staff is assured, MSF cannot guarantee resumption of activities in the area,” the statement read.
The real victims of these incidents are the most vulnerable people living in underserved areas where MSF is the only provider of healthcare services in this area outside of Yei town,” the charity stressed.
“Attacks against humanitarians and healthcare workers are unacceptable and they directly affect the provision of healthcare for communities who desperately need it,” Huda concluded. “We call on all armed groups to uphold their responsibilities under international humanitarian law and respect the provision of humanitarian assistance.”
MSF has been working in the region that today constitutes the Republic of South Sudan since 1983. In Yei, MSF offers primary healthcare services by supporting four Ministry of Health facilities, delivering outpatient consultations, routine vaccinations, and maternal and child healthcare. MSF also conducts mobile clinics and provides community-based healthcare through the Boma Health Initiative programme in the area.
In South Sudan, MSF teams provide a range of services including general healthcare, mental healthcare, and specialist hospital care. Our mobile teams also provide health assistance to displaced people and remote communities in six of the country’s 10 states and two administrative areas. In addition to responding to emergencies and disease outbreaks, we also carry out preventative activities, such as vaccination campaigns, seasonal malaria chemoprevention, safe drinking water, and distribution of non-food items.