Hundreds of doctors killed or missing in Sudan war – report
More than 235 healthcare workers have been killed or reported missing since the civil war broke out in Sudan in April 2023, the Sudan Doctors Network reported on Tuesday.
In its latest report, the group also said 20 doctors, including four women, have gone missing in the last few months alone, after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El Fasher in October. Their whereabouts remains unknown.
At least 25 healthcare workers were killed in North Darfur between the outbreak of the conflict in April 2023 and the fall of El Fasher.
The dead include doctors, pharmacists, nurses, nutrition specialists, laboratory staff, administrators, and support workers. According to the report, they were killed in assassinations, drone strikes, shelling, shootings, torture, and other attacks linked to the fighting.
Among those killed were senior medical officials, including the director of primary healthcare in North Darfur, the medical director of Umm Kadada Rural Hospital, and the former acting director general of the state health ministry. Several hospital employees, ambulance volunteers, and healthcare support staff also died while on duty, the report said.
The organization called on the RSF to reveal the fate of the missing doctors in El Fasher and urged all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of healthcare personnel and allow medical services to continue without interference.
Sudan plunged into a civil war three years ago after a struggle for power broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF.
Sudan descended into chaos in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the national army (Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This occurred after months of tension between their commanders, army generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’, respectively, over a planned transition to civilian rule. What began in the capital, Khartoum, as a power struggle has devastated the country, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
Regional and international peace efforts, including African Union mediation and Saudi–US talks in Jeddah, have repeatedly stalled. Sudanese officials have named Colombians and Ukrainians among mercenaries backing the RSF against the army. Officials have also accused Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates of involvement and recently claimed the European Union has an “incomplete understanding of the complex situation” in the country.
Khartoum has also accused authorities in neighboring Kenya of backing the RSF and has broken ties with the East African grouping IGAD amid mistrust of regional mediation. In July, TASIS, a political coalition aligned with the paramilitary, announced the formation of a rival government months after its members signed a charter in Nairobi. It named Gen. Dagalo as chairman of a 15-member presidential council, a move rejected by the UN and AU.
In June, the Sudan Doctors Network said strikes on civilian infrastructure in El Obeid had knocked hospitals, dialysis centers, and water stations out of service, worsening the humanitarian crisis. It urged the UN and international organizations to pressure the RSF to halt attacks on civilian facilities.
The latest report follows a series of warnings issued by the Sudan Doctors Network over the impact of the conflict on civilians. On June 25, the group said an RSF drone strike on a fuel station in Rabak, White Nile State, killed two people and wounded seven others, including a woman.
