UN relief coordinator calls for silencing guns in Al Fasher

June 23, 2024 (PORT SUDAN) – The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami has called for silencing of guns, days after a Pharmacist was killed at a hospital in Al-Fasher, North Darfur State.

The Friday night reportedly followed an artillery attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the pharmacy of Saudi Hospital in El-Fasher city.

In an emotional statement issued on Sunday, the UN official wrote, “Another day of violence in Sudan brings another human tragedy in Darfur’s Al Fasher”.

“This time, the person who won’t be going home to their family was a pharmacist. Died when an explosive artillery hit the corner of the hospital where she worked”, she added.

Nkweta-Salami said the pharmacist was “killed on the job, prescribing and administering medicine to women, men, and children in a place that should have been safe”.

She called for silencing of the guns, stressing the need for peace and an end what she described as a senseless taking “us step away from what we all want”.

Last week, the UN Security Council (UNSC) approved a resolution demanding that the RSF halt the siege of Al Fasher and end fighting in the area.

The resolution, approved in a vote of 14-0 with Russia abstaining on Thursday, expressed “grave concern” at the spreading violence and reports that the RSF is carrying out “ethnically motivated violence” in Al-Fasher.

The conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary RSF, which are loyal to General Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

The violence has reportedly killed at least 14,000 people and displaced nearly 10 million others.

(ST)