SUDAN NEWS ALERT: BBC - Last civilian hospital in besieged Sudan city closed

10/6/2024: BBC - Last civilian hospital in besieged Sudan city closed, by Natasha Booty

The BBC report that one of the last functioning hospitals in al-Fashir say they have been forced to close the facility after it was attacked byt the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)

Eyewitnesses say the RSF opened fire and looted drugs, medical equipment, stole an ambulance and assaulted staff.

The suspension of activities at the hospital is a major setback for the people of al-Fasher as it was the main referral facility for treating the war-wounded.

It was “the only one equipped to manage mass casualties and one of two hospitals with surgical capacity,” according to the Medicins Sans Frontieres, which says more than 1,300 injured people have sought treatment there in the past month alone.

The BBC add that, in Darfur, rights groups said the RSF is using rape as a weapon of war, and is targeting darker-skinned Masalit people and other non-Arab groups in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.