Health system collapses in Darfur as Sudanese bombing continues despite truce

The health system in the state of West Darfur, on the border with Chad, "has totally collapsed" due to ethnic fighting that has left dozens dead and hundreds wounded, while bombing continues in Khartoum despite consecutive truces between the regular army and the powerful paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In the city of Al-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, the Sudan Doctors' Union said on Tuesday that "amid a total collapse of the health situation (...) we have been able to count 94 dead and the death toll continues, while hundreds of people have been injured as a result of the barbaric ethnic fighting" linked to the ongoing conflict in the country.

"Health facilities were attacked and looted, as well as camps for displaced people," the note said, stressing that almost all hospitals and clinics have been put out of service.

This situation "forced humanitarian organisations to carry out an emergency evacuation of their teams to Chad, with the exception of part of the Red Crescent team assisting in the evacuation of the dead bodies piled up after the recent fighting," it added.

The Sudanese army, which has been at loggerheads with the RSF since 15 April, has warned that the situation in West Darfur is "complicated" as "tribal conflicts" have broken out, while several NGOs and UN agencies have reported looting and destruction of their facilities in the region.

West Darfur, the scene of an ethnic conflict between 2003 and 2008 that killed 300,000 people, is one of RSF's fiefdoms, as many of its fighters come from the area.

"We call on all consciences (...) humanitarian organisations to rescue the victims of this senseless war and indiscriminate fighting between armed gangs, and to offer a helping hand to evacuate the wounded, protect the sick, women, the elderly and children, and intervene immediately to save the city and its inhabitants," the note added.

In Khartoum, where warnings about the deteriorating humanitarian and health situation are also multiplying, the sounds of bombers continued on the second day of the new truce, the third in a row of 72, which came into effect at 22:00 GMT on Sunday.

According to witnesses and local media, sounds of shelling and artillery attacks have been heard since early morning in the airport region, north of Khartoum, as well as in the southern city of Um Dorman, neighbouring the capital, although no casualties have been reported.

Both the army and the paramilitaries continue to accuse each other of attacking residential areas and health facilities or of taking advantage of consecutive truces, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia, to reinforce their positions in Khartoum.

Although not respected by the warring parties, these truces have allowed the evacuation of thousands of foreigners and the displacement of tens of thousands of people to safer areas or to neighbouring countries, mainly Chad, South Sudan and Egypt.