During an aerial attack on a Sudanese village, Sudan’s air force bombed and partially destroyed a hospital run by the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the war-torn South Kordofan region Monday, depriving civilians of critical medical care.

MSF hospital was bombed by Sudan warplanes this week

MSF hospital was bombed by Sudan warplanes this week

MSF said in a statement seen by Chimpreports on Wednesday that five people were wounded and one MSF staff member injured.

 

As bombs struck the village of Farandalla on June 16, two hit the MSF hospital there.

MSF medical teams treated the wounded and organized the transfer of three severely injured patients to another hospital.

 

“We are shocked that a medical facility can be bombed, especially since it was clearly identified with a flag and a cross on the roof,” said MSF Head of Mission Brian Moller.

 

“We also had previously communicated the hospital’s position to the authorities in Khartoum.”

 

Patients evacuated

 

Hospital staff evacuated the patients in the surroundings at the time of the attack. Medical workers returned to treat the people wounded in the attack on the village.

 

MSF calls for the respect of patients, staff, and medical facilities in South Kordofan. Several other medical facilities in South Kordofan have been bombed in recent weeks.

 

 

The bombs destroyed the emergency room, a dressing room, the pharmacy, and the hospital kitchen. “Damage to the Farandalla hospital is significant, but MSF will continue to work there,”Moller said.

 

The MSF facility, with both outpatient and inpatient wards, began operating in 2012. Nearly 65,000 consultations have been carried out since then, along with close to 2,300 admissions.

 

MSF is one of the few health care providers in South Kordofan. In addition to running the Farandalla facility, MSF supports five health centers in the area.

 

Arrest Bashir 

 

The latest development comes at a time when the Security Council is being pressured to take immediate action to protect victims in the ongoing Darfur crisis.

 

Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda underscored Tuesday that without concrete steps to apprehend those accused of crimes against humanity, the world’s efforts to ensure justice in Darfur could “go down in history as an indefensible failure.”

 

“What have we achieved in concrete terms? Have we lived up to the expectations of Darfur’s victims? Sadly, the intellectually honest answer is a resounding ‘no,’” Fatou Bensouda said as she began her briefing to the Council with a look back over the nearly 10 years since it had referred the situation in Darfur to the Hague-based Court.

 

Finding no cause for celebration, especially since no steps have been taken regarding the arrest and surrender of a number of high profile indictees, including Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, she said, the “sad reality is that action from this Council has not been forthcoming when it mattered most for Darfur’s victims.”

 

And while the ICC may have significantly contributed to raising awareness about the massive and systematic crimes committed in Darfur, the Court’s best contribution to ending impunity through a judicial process that independently, fairly and impartially assess the evidence and determines guilt or innocence has yet to be achieved.

 

Indeed, continued Ms. Bensouda: “The ICC’s judicial process cannot take place without arrests. Darfur suspects remain at large and no meaningful steps have been taken to apprehend them and bring them to justice.”

 

“Today we are in the same position as we were in 2007”, she said, following the Council’s “much-lauded” referral of the case to the Court and the issuance of arrest warrants for Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb, and, subsequently, President Bashir, who continues to travel in defiance of the warrants, including to States party to the Court’s founding Rome Statute.

 

“This reflects badly, not just on the international justice system of which the ICC is only a part, but it also greatly undermines the credibility of this Council as an instrument of international peace and security,” said Ms. Bensouda, adding that it is high time for Sudan’s ongoing defiance of Security Council resolutions to be matched by the Council’s decisive action.

 

Darfur’s victims are looking to the Council for answers to critical questions, she continued: For how much longer will legality and accountability be sacrificed at the altar of political expediency?; and What amount of suffering should Darfur’s victims endure for this Council to act decisively on the situation in Darfur.

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