Sudan Hospital Attack in West Kordofan (Accusations on Both Sides)
Kanako Mita and Hiroshi Saito
Modern Tokyo Times
The Al-Mujlad Hospital was struck on Saturday in the state of West Kordofan in Sudan. At least 40 people were killed, including children.
In the fog of war, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the armed forces of Sudan accuse each other of being responsible for the hospital attack.
According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the Al-Mujlad Hospital (town of Muglad) was “the only functioning healthcare facility in the area.” Hence, the tragedy is compounded to a greater extent.
The BBC coverage of the attack says the Sudan Doctors Network and the Emergency Lawyers pin the hospital attack on the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces). However, the network of doctors specifies that the SAF sought to kill RSF armed fighters who were “stationed inside” the hospital. Therefore, the fog of war is leading to counter-accusations.
The BBC reports, “In addition to allegations of genocide, external in Darfur, the murder of many thousands of civilians across the country, plus the displacement of millions more, both sides in this conflict have been accused of carrying out war crimes on medical facilities and staff, according to evidence seen by BBC News Arabic.”
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports, “The United States government said on January 7, 2025, that it had determined that Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forces committed genocide in Darfur during the current conflict in Sudan. The US government also sanctioned the RSF commander, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, for atrocities committed by his forces in Sudan, along with seven RSF-linked companies.”
HRW continues, “These sanctions are a positive step. Dagalo’s forces, who have been engaged in a brutal conflict against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023, have carried out widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity across Sudan. Human Rights Watch has documented targeted ethnic killings, systematic rape and sexual violence, and mass displacement by the RSF in West Darfur, and called for further investigation into evidence of genocidal intent on the part of the RSF.”
Catherine Russell (the Executive Director of UNICEF – actively involved in highlighting the crisis in Sudan) said, “hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of both the war in Sudan and a lack of essential services for those who have fled to Chad.”
Catherine Russel had earlier reported, “Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action… Millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war. This is an abhorrent violation of international law and could constitute a war crime. It must stop.”
Drone attacks and strikes against aid convoys also highlight the dire situation in Sudan.
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “Wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Sudan, and other wars aren’t highlighted by the international community to the same extent as the crisis between Israel and Hamas-ruled Gaza, or the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Similarly, the endless massacres of Christians in Nigeria by an array of Muslim forces rarely hit the headlines (if it does, the religious dimension is played down because it doesn’t suit the narrative). Therefore, hidden oppression in West Papua by Indonesia, the constant pressure on indigenous Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, bloodletting by Islamists in the Sahel region, and an array of other conflicts are negated and don’t whip up strong emotions outside of people connected to the respective wars and places of oppression.”
Many parts of Sudan are blighted by war and ethnic attacks.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgpdxk853jo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j18w3ndg9o
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