Half the hospitals in Sudan’s capital are ‘out of action’ as casualties rise

Half of the hospitals in Sudan’s capital are “out of action” due to intensifying clashes, according to a leading aid organization – even as the number of casualties rise and many of the injured are in dire need of medical attention.

“According to the information we have in Khartoum, 50% of hospitals have been out of action in the first 72 hours,” said Abdalla Hussein, the Médecins Sans Frontière (MSF) operational manager for Sudan. “This is because the staff weren’t feeling safe to go there or the hospitals themselves have been subject to shelling or bombing,” he said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 270 people have been killed and more than 2,600 injured since the clashes erupted on Saturday between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At the heart of the conflict is a power struggle between the groups’ leaders: Sudan’s military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

On Wednesday, both sides accused each other of breaching a 24-hour truce that was meant to come into effect early evening local time on Tuesday.

Sudan’s armed forces said that conditions created by the RSF “have not allowed for a truce to start.”