MSF says South Sudan hospital hit by government airstrike

Humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said one of its hospitals in South Sudan was hit by an airstrike carried out by government forces late Tuesday, adding to what it described as a pattern of attacks on medical facilities amid renewed fighting in Jonglei state.

MSF said the hospital was located in Lankien, a town in Jonglei where opposition-held areas have been at the center of renewed fighting in recent weeks between government troops and opposition forces. The airstrike came on Tuesday night, the group said, and was followed by damage to MSF’s site.

The group said Lankien had been evacuated hours before the airstrike after MSF received information about a possible attack. MSF said one staff member was injured and the hospital’s main warehouse was destroyed along with medical supplies.

MSF also said it had shared the global positioning system coordinates of its facilities with the government and other parties to the conflict. Gul Badshah, an operations manager for the group, said: “MSF shared the GPS coordinates of our facilities with the government and other parties to the conflict,” and added that “The government of South Sudan armed forces are the only armed party with the capacity to perform aerial attacks in the country.”

In the same day’s developments, MSF said a separate facility in the village of Pieri was looted earlier on Tuesday by “unknown assailants.” Pieri, like Lankien, is in opposition-held Jonglei, according to MSF.

MSF said the two affected facilities were the only health provider for about 250,000 people in the region. The group said the incident marked the 10th attack in 12 months on a medical facility it runs in South Sudan.

Government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny and army spokesman Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang did not respond to requests for comment.

The attack follows wider unrest in Jonglei and steps taken by the army to intensify operations. On Jan. 25, the army launched “Operation Enduring Peace,” which it said aimed to recapture towns seized by opposition forces and “restore law and order.” MSF said civilians were ordered to evacuate three counties in Jonglei immediately, and aid groups were told to leave within 48 hours.

A coalition of opposition forces seized a string of government outposts in central Jonglei in December. Some forces are loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar, while others describe themselves as part of an ethnic Nuer militia called the White Army. Machar, who was suspended last year as South Sudan’s first vice president after White Army fighters overran a military garrison in Nasir, now faces treason charges authorities allege relate to that attack; his allies deny the allegations.

MSF said fighting and aerial bombardments have driven displacement in Jonglei, where, analysts say, severe health needs coincide with high food insecurity. The United Nations said an estimated 280,000 people have been displaced by fighting and aerial bombardments there since December.

MSF has also accused the government of blocking humanitarian access in opposition-held areas. Abdalla Hussein, the group’s South Sudan program manager, said: “Patients will die if the government continues to block humanitarian and medical access in Jonglei,” and added that “Imposing restrictions on humanitarian aid and preventing people from accessing health care is a crude political maneuver. Ultimately, it is civilians who pay the price.”