The head of the World Health Organization called has called for an end to attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan's North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.
"As the only functional hospital in El Fasher, the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital provides services which include gyn-obstetrics, internal medicine, surgery and pediatrics, along with a nutrition stabilization centre," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
The attack on the hospital happened on Friday. "We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan, and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged", Tedros said.
Burhan visits
Darfur Governor Mini Minnawi said on X that an RSF drone had struck the emergency department of the hospital in the capital of North Darfur, killing patients, including women and children.
Fierce clashes have erupted in El Fasher between the RSF and the Sudanese joint forces, including the army, armed resistance groups, police, and local defence units.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan visited its strategic headquarters in central Khartoum on Sunday in his first appearance there since government forces claimed to have broken a months-long siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Humanitarian crisis
Accompanied by senior military leaders, Burhan praised the "resilience and sacrifices" of soldiers who defended the army's General Command for 20 months, vowing to "eradicate" the RSF and pursue its fighters "in every corner of Sudan."
He also hailed the army's continued operations elsewhere in the country, including in Omdurman, Bahri, and El Fasher, where fierce clashes have been reported in recent days.
The General Command in Khartoum had been under siege since the conflict erupted.
The war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which broke out in April 2023 due to disputes over the integration of the two forces, has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the population into hunger.
The conflict has created what the UN called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
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