The Rapid Support Forces, RSF, a powerful paramilitary group in Sudan, has killed more than 460 patients and their companions during a violent assault on a maternity ward at the Saudi Hospital in El-Fasher over the weekend.
According to a statement released on Tuesday, October 28, by the Sudan Doctors’ Network, RSF fighters cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards.
The massacre occurred as the RSF seized control of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, following an 18-month siege characterized by widespread starvation, heavy bombardment, and mass civilian casualties.
The attack came amid ongoing reports of targeted assaults on medical facilities and the abduction of healthcare workers across conflict zones in Sudan.
In a related incident, the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, confirmed on Wednesday that five of its local volunteers working in Bara, North Kordofan State, were also killed.
Reacting to the escalating violence, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, WHO, expressed outrage over the attacks on medical facilities and humanitarian personnel.
He said the WHO was appalled and deeply shocked by the reports of the massacre.
“Prior to this latest attack, WHO has verified 185 attacks on health care in Sudan with 1204 deaths and 416 injuries of health workers and patients since the start of the conflict in April 2023,” Ghebreyesus stated.
“Forty-nine of these attacks occurred this year alone, killing 966 people.
“All attacks on health care MUST STOP immediately and unconditionally. All patients, health personnel and health facilities must be protected under International Humanitarian Law.”
The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (popularly known as Hemedti), began its war against Sudan’s national army in April 2023 following a power struggle over the integration of both forces into a unified command.
Since then, the paramilitary group has captured Khartoum and much of western Sudan, drawing global condemnation for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The United Nations, UN, reports that more than 30 million people across Sudan are now in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, describing the situation as one of the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
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