Latest news with #SudanConflict
Al Arabiya
20 hours ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Drones hit paramilitary sites in west Sudan: Witnesses
Three drone strikes have hit key paramilitary positions in western Sudan, witnesses said Sunday, as fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalates in the war-torn region. The strikes in Nyala, the South Darfur state capital, targeted a hotel and a medical unit in the city center and RSF-held positions on the eastern outskirts, residents said. 'We saw ambulances transporting the wounded to several hospitals,' one resident told AFP in a message. The RSF has controlled much of Nyala since the conflict began in April 2023 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Air strikes on RSF positions have intensified, hitting Nyala airport -- a key RSF base -- and other targets. In early May, army planes bombed RSF sites in Nyala and the West Darfur capital, El-Geneina, destroying depots and equipment, a military source said. A cargo plane was also reportedly fired on while landing at Nyala airport, though the source did not say who was responsible. Satellite images released last month by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab showed six advanced at the city's RSF-held airport. The Chinese-made drones appeared 'capable of long-range surveillance and strikes', it said. After nearly daily attacks in early May, the strikes paused for a week before resuming on Saturday. Residents reported intercepts of drones by air defenses north and west of the city. The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million -- nearly a quarter of the population -- in what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. The conflict has effectively split the northeast African country in two with the army holding the north, east and center while the RSF and its allies dominate nearly all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south.
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
RSF drone strike kills 6 in Sudan hospital as cholera rages
The United Nations says the conflict in Sudan has created the world's biggest hunger and displacement crises. (EPA Images pic) KHARTOUM : Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) bombarded the key southern city of El-Obeid yesterday, killing six people in a hospital, as doctors in the capital Khartoum fought to contain a cholera outbreak. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they were 'appalled' by the latest strike, adding: 'Attacks on health must stop. We call for protection of all health infrastructure and health personnel. The best medicine is peace.' An army source told AFP the drone strike on the Social Insurance Hospital, which also wounded 12, was part of a simultaneous strike on residential areas of the city with heavy artillery. The bombardment had also hit a second hospital in the city centre, the source added. A medical source at El-Obeid Hospital, the city's main facility, confirmed the toll. El-Obeid, a strategic city 400km southwest of Khartoum, was besieged by the RSF for nearly two years before the regular army broke the siege in February. It was one of a series of counter-offensives that later saw the army recapture Khartoum. The city, which the RSF has repeatedly bombarded, is a key staging post on the army's supply route to the west, where the besieged city of El-Fasher is the only state capital in the vast Darfur region still under its control. The RSF and the army have clashed repeatedly along the road between El-Obeid and El-Fasher in recent weeks. On Thursday, the paramilitaries said they retook the town of Al-Khoei, around 100km west of El-Obeid, after the army recaptured it earlier this month. The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million since it erupted in April 2023. The United Nations says the conflict has created the world's biggest hunger and displacement crises. In Khartoum, where a cholera outbreak has killed dozens this week, doctors struggled to treat patients with dwindling supplies as the disease rapidly spread. 'We are using all available means to limit its spread and treat infected patients,' Dr Hamad Adel, with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), told AFP from Bashair Hospital. Patients lay on rusted metal beds, receiving IV drips in a makeshift isolation centre fashioned out of a tent in the sweltering 40°C heat, AFPTV footage showed. In a dedicated section, children lay side by side, emaciated and exhausted in the midst of what aid groups warn is a public health disaster. Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal illness caused by ingesting contaminated water or food, is easily preventable and treatable with clean water, sanitation and medical care – all now in short supply in Khartoum. In other overwhelmed hospitals across the war-ravaged capital, medics have been forced to lay patients on floors in hallways and courtyards. The outbreak has been blamed on power outages caused by RSF drone attacks on the capital's power stations, which cut access to clean water for millions across the city this month. Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war has decimated the country's already fragile health system. Up to 90% of hospitals in the conflict's main battlegrounds have at some point been forced shut, according to the doctors' union. The war has effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the centre, east and north, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. The RSF has failed to seize El-Fasher, which would consolidate its hold on Darfur, but has continued to pound the city, with starving civilians trapped inside. The UN World Food Programme said Thursday its facility had been 'hit and damaged by RSF repeated shelling'. The US – which has sanctioned both Burhan and Daglo – has condemned the bombing. 'Safe, sustained humanitarian access is critical and violations that endanger civilians and relief efforts demand serious attention,' said senior Africa adviser Massad Boulos. Since losing Khartoum in March, the RSF has adopted a two-pronged strategy: long-range drone strikes on army-held cities accompanied by a counter-offensive in the south. On Thursday, the paramilitaries announced they had captured Dibeibat in South Kordofan state. Swathes of South Kordofan are controlled by a rebel group allied with the RSF.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Health
- Arab News
RSF drone strike kills six in Sudan hospital: army source
KHARTOUM: Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces bombarded El-Obeid on Friday, killing six people in a hospital in the key southern city, medical and army sources said. 'The militia launched a drone strike on the Social Insurance Hospital, killing six and wounding 12, simultaneously attacking residential areas of the city with heavy artillery,' an army source told AFP, adding that the bombardment had also hit a second hospital in the city center. A medical source at El-Obeid Hospital, the city's main facility, confirmed the toll, adding that the Social Insurance Hospital had been forced shut 'due to damage' sustained in the drone strike. El-Obeid, a strategic city 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Khartoum which is the capital of North Kordofan state, was besieged by the RSF for nearly two years before the regular army broke the siege in February. It was one of a series of counteroffensives that also saw the army recapture Khartoum, but El-Obeid has continued to come under RSF bombardment. The city is a key staging post on the army's supply route to the west, where the besieged city of El-Fasher is the only state capital in the vast Darfur region still under its control. The RSF and the army have clashed repeatedly along the road between El-Obeid and El-Fasher in recent weeks. On Thursday, the paramilitaries said they retaken the town of Al-Khoei, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of El-Obeid, after the army recaptured it earlier this month. The war between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million since it erupted in April 2023. The United Nation says the conflict has created the world's biggest hunger and displacement crises. It has also effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the center, east and north, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south. Since losing Khartoum in March, the RSF has adopted a two-prong strategy: long-range drone strikes on army-held cities accompanied by a counteroffensive in the south. On Thursday, the paramilitaries also announced they had recaptured Dibeibat, in South Kordofan state some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of El-Obeid, another town that the army had retaken earlier this month. Swathes of South Kordofan are controlled by a rebel group allied with the RSF, Abdelaziz Al-Hilu's faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- 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
3 days ago
- Health
- Arab News
Paramilitaries claim capture of key Sudan towns
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: 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 kilometers (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 center, 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. 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 centers 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. 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 fueling 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.'
