♦ Sudan: This week’s news in brief ♦
An MSF doctor treats a young child inside a clinic in Um Sangour, White Nile state (Source: MSF)
A compact digest of the past week’s most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this digest weekly in your inbox.
MSF Sudan evacuates ‘exhausted’ Khartoum team
12/07/2024 – NAIROBI. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) announced the evacuation of its team from the Turkish hospital in Khartoum due to ongoing violence both inside and outside the facility. The decision follows numerous threats to the lives of MSF staff.
The MSF Sudan emergency response head, Claire Nicolet, described the situation in and around the Turkish hospital, located in a neighbourhood controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as “untenable”. “Multiple violent incidents have taken place inside and outside the premises over the past 12 months, and the lives of our staff have been repeatedly threatened.” Recent events have rendered support impossible, and the MSF team is “physically and mentally exhausted”.
‘Sudan war impacting environment and climate’
07/07/2024 – AMSTERDAM. The wars in Sudan have impacted the environment and climate in the country, particularly in Darfur, according to leading Sudanese environmental activist Iman Seifeldin, who asks whether these can be considered ‘climate crimes’ to be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Seifeldin points out that the war in Darfur, which began between rebel movements and the Sudanese regime of Omar Al Bashir in early 2003, affected the entire region. Similarly, the ongoing SAF-RSF armed conflict impacts all parts of Darfur. “Displacement due to war, in the long term, affects the suitability of lands for agriculture, causes damage, and has consequences for the population’s return post-conflict.” “Agricultural lands are left uncultivated for many years, the soil is exposed to erosion, making it extremely difficult to restore its productive capacity.”
Sudan’s dire human rights situation: UN expert raises alarm
14/07/2024 – GENEVA / NAIROBI. The designated expert on Sudan of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, warned of the catastrophic human rights situation in the country and said that “the civilian population in Sudan has been exposed to unprecedented levels of violence and suffering…”.
Cairo conference on Sudan war reaps ‘mixed results’
11/07/2024 – CAIRO. The Conference of Political and Civil Forces, hosted in Cairo, focussed on ways to end the war, delivering humanitarian aid, protecting civilians, and exploring opportunities for comprehensive peace in Sudan. Radio Dabanga spoke with political affairs researcher Essam Shaaban and journalist Khalid Mahmoud about the impact of this conference.
EU supports urgent health services for Sudanese in Libya
10/07/2024 – BRUSSELS. The European Union has allocated €500,000 euros in humanitarian funding to the World Health Organisation to provide primary health care to the most vulnerable Sudanese fleeing to Libya.
Hospital shelled in renewed North Darfur clashes
08/07/2024 – EL FASHER / EL OBEID. Reports indicate that the paramilitary RSF bombed the Saudi Hospital, causing partial destruction to the facility in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher. According to sources in the area, the artillery attack fortunately resulted in no injuries.
Ethnic detentions continue in Sudan, lawyers targeted by both warring parties
06/07/2024 – PORT SUDAN / KUTIAB. Agents of Sudan’s Military Intelligence, the General Intelligence Service (GIS), and ‘special forces’ this week detained several human rights defenders in Sennar and White Nile state. Ethnically based detentions continue in northern Sudan.
RSF capture Sudan army base in West Kordofan ‘without struggle’
05/07/2024 14:02 EL MEIRAM. Less than two weeks after the RSF took control of El Fula, the capital of West Kordofan, they captured El Meiram. Videos published by the RSF from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) station in El Meiram suggest that the SAF abandoned its positions in the town without a struggle.
Hospital bombed in North Darfur as RSF shelling intensifies
03/07/2024 – EL FASHER / ABU SHOUK CAMP. The paramilitary RSF bombed Jebel Marra Hospital located in North Darfur’s El Fasher’s Grand Market, a source told Radio Dabanga. The source reported that the northern section of the hospital’s third floor was destroyed, though medical equipment remained largely undamaged.
Cairo to host ‘unifying’ Sudan peace talks this week
03/07/2024 – CAIRO. As part of regional and international efforts to end the Sudanese conflict, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited Sudanese political forces and civilian and religious leaders to a meeting in Cairo on July 6 and 7.
The Netherlands to resume stalled procedures for Sudanese refugees
02/07/2024 – THE HAGUE / DRONTEN. Sudanese refugees in the Netherlands have welcomed the decision issued by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) to resume processing asylum applications for Sudanese citizens, that have been pending since July 8, 2023.
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