Muslim Government of North Sudan Bombs South Sudanese Hospitals, Doctors Without Borders Flees

Muslim government of North Sudan bombed out civilian areas and hospitals of areas held by Christian and animist South Sudan to the extent that many Doctors without Borders groups have left the region citing unacceptable conditions

Doctors Without Borders (MSF), a charity that provides medical aid in war-torn areas, announced on Thursday its withdrawal from two conflict-hit Sudanese states, saying the government had made it impossible to provide help. 

"Because of the multiple denials of access, obstructions and blockages from the Sudanese authorities, the Brussels-based section of MSF has been forced to leave Sudan," it said. 

Two other MSF branches will continue to operate in Sudan, but the Brussels-based wing of the charity was the only one working in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, two of the areas hardest hit by an ongoing war between ethnic minority rebels and government forces. 

MSF is known for working in the world’s most dangerous conflict zones, maintaining a presence inside war-torn Syria. 

However, a spokesperson for the group told Middle East Eye last week that the security situation in Sudan had become “unacceptable”. 

The comments came after the group said that a government plane had bombed one of their hospitals in South Kordofan, where the deteriorating humanitarian situation has forced some civilians to seek refuge over the border in war-torn South Sudan. 

The hospital was located in the rebel-held village of Frandala. But according to a spokesperson for the group, it was not near a military base. “Authorities in Khartoum knew the location of the hospital – it is in a civilian area." 

The group warned that the reported attack was “a deliberate and targeted bombing of a civilian hospital structure, and part of a strategy to terrorise the community."