Latest news with #GeneralAbdelFattahAlBurhan
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Paramilitaries claim capture of key Sudan towns
Paramilitary forces fighting Sudan's military have said they captured two strategic towns in the war-ravaged nation, which has been hit by a cholera outbreak that killed 70 people in the capital this week. For more than two years Africa's third-largest country has been engulfed by a war between the army, led by the nation's de facto ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The surge in cholera infections comes weeks after drone strikes blamed on the RSF knocked out water and electricity supplies across the capital Khartoum, which now faces a mounting health emergency. The RSF announced Thursday that its forces had retaken the key towns of Dibeibat, in South Kordofan state, and Al-Khoei, in West Kordofan state, which border South Sudan. "The liberation of Dibeibat, followed by Al-Khoei, not only means a field victory; it also consolidates the complete control of the RSF over most of the Kordofan region," an RSF spokesman said in a statement. Al-Khoei, located around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from El-Obeid -- a crossroads between Khartoum and the Darfur region -- had been briefly recaptured by the army this month. Residents confirmed to AFP that Dibeibat, which links the states of North and South Kordofan, was now under RSF control. The conflict has effectively split Sudan in two: the army controls the centre, east and north of the country, while paramilitaries hold almost all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 13 million and created what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. - Cholera outbreak - Last week, the military-backed government said it had dislodged RSF fighters from their last bases in Khartoum state, two months after retaking the heart of the capital from the paramilitaries. Khartoum has been a battleground throughout the war and remains devastated, with health and sanitation infrastructure barely functioning. Up to 90 percent of hospitals in the conflict's main battlegrounds have been forced out of service by the fighting. Now the capital is facing a major health crisis. A cholera outbreak claimed 70 lives on Tuesday and Wednesday, the health ministry for Khartoum state said Thursday. Health officials also recorded more than 2,100 new infections over the same two days. But the UN's humanitarian agency, OCHA, said it is "difficult to assess the true scale of the outbreak" with "significant discrepancies" in official data. The federal health ministry reported 172 deaths in the week to Tuesday, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state. Authorities said 89 percent of patients in isolation centres are recovering, but warn that deteriorating environmental conditions are driving a surge in cases. Cholera vaccinations have begun in Jebel Awila, the hardest-hit district in Khartoum, UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman said Thursday. Meanwhile the World Health Organization had delivered more than 22 metric tons of cholera and emergency health supplies, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. - 'On the brink' - Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war broke out. Since August, health authorities have recorded more than 65,000 cases and over 1,700 deaths across 12 of Sudan's 18 states. "Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale public health disaster," said Eatizaz Yousif, the International Rescue Committee's Sudan director. "The combination of conflict, displacement, destroyed critical infrastructure and limited access to clean water is fuelling the resurgence of cholera and other deadly diseases." Aid agencies warn that without urgent action, the spread of disease is likely to worsen with the arrival of the rainy season next month, which severely limits humanitarian access. Sudan's government also faces US sanctions over allegations by Washington that the Sudanese military used chemical weapons last year in its war against the RSF. On Thursday, Sudan's foreign ministry announced the creation of a national committee to investigate the charge, while expressing its "disbelief in the validity of the US administration's accusations". burs/srm/dv/sco/rsc
Arab News
15-05-2025
- Health
- Arab News
UNICEF says artillery fire leaves Sudan hospital patients without water
KHARTOUM: Around 1,000 critically ill patients in Sudan's Darfur region are nearly without drinking water after artillery fire destroyed a water tanker at a hospital, UNICEF said on Wednesday. The tanker was stationed at the Saudi hospital, one of the few still operational in El-Fasher, a city in North Darfur with a population of around two million. The city is the only state capital among Darfur's five states to remain outside the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but has been under siege by the paramilitary group since May 2024. 'Yesterday, a UNICEF-supported water truck in the Saudi hospital compound, El-Fasher, was destroyed by artillery fire, disrupting access to safe water for an estimated 1,000 severely ill patients,' the UN agency said. 'UNICEF continues to call on all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and end all attacks on or near critical civilian infrastructure,' it added. The war in Sudan, now in its third year, has pitted the armed forces led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the RSF headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The conflict has effectively split the country in two, with the army controlling the north, east, and center, while the RSF dominates nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. On Wednesday, the army accused the RSF in a statement of targeting populated areas of the city. In April, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimated that 70 to 80 percent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas in Sudan were out of service, citing El-Fasher as a prime example. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million, including 5.6 million in Darfur alone. According to the UN, the war has caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Both sides in the conflict have been accused of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians, indiscriminately bombing residential areas and obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid.
