Amid escalating violence in Sudan, MSF doctor's testimony from hospital: civilians suffer as warring parties fail to protect live
5 February 2025
Update Sudan Crises
Port Sudan, 5 February 2025 - MSF teams in three different parts of Sudan - Khartoum, North Darfur and South Darfur states - treated mass influxes of war wounded patients as the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued, with little respect shown for civilian life.
On 3 February airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces hit residential areas of Nyala, South Darfur, hitting and destroying civilian houses. The airstrikes took place in the afternoon when many people were around. 32 people were killed and dozens injured, with many patients brought to the MSF supported Nyala Teaching Hospital. An MSF doctor working at the hospital describes what he witnessed.
I am a doctor at MSF and I work at Nyala Teaching Hospital. Let me tell you about the airstrike, that happen here just a while ago. Suddenly, while we were doing our routine work, we heard a bomb. The first bomb of the airstrike was when everything became chaotic.
People, caretakers, and caregivers were running everywhere, trying to find shelter and a safe place. We heard the bomb near the hospital, we saw it! Some of us were able to see it from inside the hospital. We saw the dust and smoke at the northern part of the hospital.
We tried to take cover everywhere. First, I took cover in the mosque near the ER. After that, when the plane left, we knew it would return. We spoke to the team and advised them to take cover, prioritising their safety. We also identified the paediatric department as a safe place. We stayed there for a while, but another bombing from the airstrike occurred near the hospital. We felt the building moving, the doors and windows were shaking. There was some shrapnel inside the hospital.
At that moment, one of the nurses came and told us that casualties were starting to arrive at the hospital, and we were torn between staying safe or going to help. We had to choose. Some of us had to go and help and some of us should stay for a while, 10 or 15 minutes, then we would follow to ER. When I went to ER I found blood everywhere, patients with multiple injuries and trauma.
What made me wonder and saddened me is that I found two children, one of them four years old and the other is two, both were victims of the airstrike. The caretaker of one of the children told me that four of her family members had died, her mother and three siblings. Only her father and an older brother were left alive, maybe because they were not in the house.
The situation was very terrifying. Some of the team was holding on, but some of them were very afraid. Nevertheless, we kept going to work to assist. The team was composed of the assistant of our medical and non-medical team also in the ER. Some of them were wondering whether they’d come to work at the hospital tomorrow, worried it’ll be bombed. The situation was very terrifying, very difficult.
We do what we can, and we don't know what will happen later.