UN Strongly Condemn Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Sudan’s Al Fasher

The United Nations (UN) strongly condemned the indiscriminate attacks against civilians in the city of Al Fasher in North Darfur State on Sunday, killing and injuring no less than 97 people. In a press release issued on Monday, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami expressed her deep sadness at these horrific attacks, saying, "Civilian infrastructures should never be a target and are protected under the international humanitarian law." She added, "I call on parties to stop the fight and to do everything possible to protect civilians, allow them free movement and to go about their daily lives." With regards to funds, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan stated, "I am urging donors to urgently step up to disburse their commitments and identify new funding if humanitarians are to stand a chance at preventing a large-scale famine from taking hold." In fact, more than halfway through the year, the Sudan humanitarian appeal, which is seeking USD 2. 7 billion, is just 32 percent funded. The incident in Al Fasher caught many civilians by surprise as the town had experienced relative calm for about two weeks, enabling markets to reopen and many families to resume their livelihoods. In a related context, the World Health Organization denounced the increasing attacks on health care facilities in Sudan, noting that 22 such attacks had been verified during the past eight weeks alone. The organization stressed the importance of peace as a basic condition for ensuring the health of the people of Sudan and rebuilding the country's health system, stressing the importance of protecting all health workers, patients and facilities at all times. The country is facing the worst levels of acute food insecurity in its history, with more than half of its population - 25.6 million people - in acute hunger. More than 8.5 million people face emergency levels of hunger (IPC 4), while more than 755,000 people are in catastrophic conditions (IPC 5) in Greater Darfur, South and North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Al Jazirah, and Khartoum. More than 18,800 people have been killed and over 33,000 injured since the conflict broke out in April 2023, according to humanitarian partners. Over 10 million people have fled their homes, and this includes more than 5 million children. Source: Qatar News Agency