EU supports urgent health services for Sudanese in Libya

The European Union (EU) has allocated €500,000 euros in humanitarian funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to provide primary health care to the most vulnerable Sudanese fleeing to Libya, according to a statement issued by the EU on Tuesday.

The EU reported that more than 1,200 Sudanese enter Libya daily from Kufra, a sixfold increase compared to December 2023. Nearly half of these new arrivals are women and children, joining some 40,000 Sudanese already distributed across south-east Libya.

WHO plans to use the funds to deploy medical teams, including mental health professionals, and to supply and equip six primary health care facilities. Additionally, mobile clinics will be established to offer direct medical treatment to vulnerable Sudanese groups. The primary focus will be on border areas, the statement indicated.

The indiscriminate violence within the city and surrounding localities has forced more than 328,000 people to flee into neighbouring Libya and Chad, in three months. Last month the WHO condemned an attack on the pharmacy, killing a pharmacist on duty, in the now closed-Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. The city has been the epicentre of the current conflict between the warring parties of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies in Darfur since April this year.

The EU also imposed restrictive measures on six entities accused of destabilising Sudan’s political landscape last month. Underscoring the severe impact on the country due to the ongoing clashes between SAF and the RSF, along with their affiliated militias.