Khartoum: The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has strongly condemned a recent bombing attack on a hospital and pharmacy operated by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), calling it a deliberate act that may amount to a war crime.
Over the weekend, at least seven people were killed and 20 others injured in Fangak County when an explosive device hit an MSF pharmacy, reducing it to ashes and inflicting damage on the nearby hospital. MSF reported that a follow-up drone strike later targeted the town of Old Fangak in the Greater Upper Nile region.
No group has claimed responsibility for the strikes, which follow recent violent clashes and aerial assaults in the area. These incidents involve government forces and an ethnic militia reportedly linked to First Vice President Riek Machar.
Yasmin Sooka, the commission's chair, described the attack as intentional and unlawful. “This was no accident. It was a targeted assault on a protected healthcare facility,” she said. “Bombing the MSF hospital in Old Fangak blatantly violates international humanitarian law and could be classified as a war crime.”
Sooka emphasized that assaults on medical services breach the Geneva Conventions and undermine the core of humanitarian efforts aimed at shielding civilians during armed conflict.
South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makuei has yet to issue a statement in response to the allegations.
Although the 2018 peace agreement officially ended a brutal civil war between President Salva Kiir’s forces and those loyal to Riek Machar, tensions have resurged. Machar's house arrest in March over alleged rebellion attempts has raised fears of renewed conflict.
