Norway has strongly condemned the attack on the South Hospital in Al Fasher City in Sudan’s North Darfur State.
A Tuesday statement from the Norwegian ministers for International Development and Foreign Affairs Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim and Espen Barth Eide, respectively, said attacks on the sick and wounded, children, healthcare workers and other civilians were unacceptable.
“Directing attacks against civilians or civilian objects, such as hospitals, is prohibited under international humanitarian law, and may amount to war crimes,” the ministers said.
“We express our sincere condolences to the victims and remind the parties that there are rules in war: all belligerent parties have a duty to protect civilians, hospitals, healthcare and humanitarian workers,” they added.
According to reports, there have been several attacks on the South Hospital over the past weeks, including on the prenatal care unit, which killed one person and wounded eight others.
The attacks, the reports indicated, heightened on Saturday, when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldiers reportedly opened fire inside the hospital and looted the facilities. The hospital is now out of service, according to Médecins Sans Frontières.
More than 70 per cent of the health facilities in Sudan have been destroyed in the war.
The South Hospital has been heavily congested since the fighting in the area began in mid-May. During the past few weeks, thousands of casualties have been treated at the facility, which is now out of service, aggravating further the hardship of the local civilians.