International
Sick patients in South Sudan have been shot to death in their beds, and medical facilities have been looted and burned to the ground, a dangerous level of disrespect for the country's strained health care system that is forcing the aid group Doctors Without Borders to examine its operations there.
Members of the aid group, which is known by its French initials, MSF, said Wednesday that extreme violence shown by warring sides in the young country’s ongoing civil strife has made the group's work almost impossible.
Over the weekend, MSF discovered at least 14 dead bodies in a hospital in the contested city of Malakal. Several of the dead had been shot while lying in their beds, the group said. Rebels have been fighting government forces for control of the city, the capital of an oil-producing state.
MSF leader Raphael Gorgeu said the aid group’s facilities in the towns of Leer and Bentiu have been looted and completely destroyed.
The men carrying out the fighting have shown "absolutely no respect for health care workers," said Gorgeu. "We don't want to leave South Sudan, definitely not, but we have to look at things very carefully now. It is not the investment we put in but the trust and the respect we put in that is actually put into question."
Gorgeu said MSF was not planning on pulling out of South Sudan, where 800,000 people are displaced and 3.2 million are in immediate need of food because of fighting that broke out in mid-December. Thousands have died in the violence.
In late January, thousands of residents fled as fighting broke out in Leer, the hometown of rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar. MSF, which has worked in Leer for 25 years, evacuated staff. They returned this week to find their hospital — a facility that serves 300,000 people — destroyed.
Kenya's top security body warned Tuesday that violence in South Sudan is worsening. It condemned "escalating military activities ... in total disregard and violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement" that Nairobi helped broker last month.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Wednesday in the latest effort by neighboring countries to try to implement the cease-fire and bring the two sides back to negotiations. That followed a visit the day before by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, who was pushing for the resumption of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Al Jazeera and wire services
Gorgeu said MSF was not planning on pulling out of South Sudan, where 800,000 people are displaced and 3.2 million are in immediate need of food because of fighting that broke out in mid-December. Thousands have died in the violence.
In late January, thousands of residents fled as fighting broke out in Leer, the hometown of rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar. MSF, which has worked in Leer for 25 years, evacuated staff. They returned this week to find their hospital — a facility that serves 300,000 people — destroyed.
Kenya's top security body warned Tuesday that violence in South Sudan is worsening. It condemned "escalating military activities ... in total disregard and violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement" that Nairobi helped broker last month.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Wednesday in the latest effort by neighboring countries to try to implement the cease-fire and bring the two sides back to negotiations. That followed a visit the day before by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, who was pushing for the resumption of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Al Jazeera and wire services
The men carrying out the fighting have shown "absolutely no respect for health care workers," said Gorgeu. "We don't want to leave South Sudan, definitely not, but we have to look at things very carefully now. It is not the investment we put in but the trust and the respect we put in that is actually put into question."
Gorgeu said MSF was not planning on pulling out of South Sudan, where 800,000 people are displaced and 3.2 million are in immediate need of food because of fighting that broke out in mid-December. Thousands have died in the violence.
In late January, thousands of residents fled as fighting broke out in Leer, the hometown of rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar. MSF, which has worked in Leer for 25 years, evacuated staff. They returned this week to find their hospital — a facility that serves 300,000 people — destroyed.
Kenya's top security body warned Tuesday that violence in South Sudan is worsening. It condemned "escalating military activities ... in total disregard and violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement" that Nairobi helped broker last month.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Wednesday in the latest effort by neighboring countries to try to implement the cease-fire and bring the two sides back to negotiations. That followed a visit the day before by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, who was pushing for the resumption of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Al Jazeera and wire services
The men carrying out the fighting have shown "absolutely no respect for health care workers," said Gorgeu. "We don't want to leave South Sudan, definitely not, but we have to look at things very carefully now. It is not the investment we put in but the trust and the respect we put in that is actually put into question."
Gorgeu said MSF was not planning on pulling out of South Sudan, where 800,000 people are displaced and 3.2 million are in immediate need of food because of fighting that broke out in mid-December. Thousands have died in the violence.
In late January, thousands of residents fled as fighting broke out in Leer, the hometown of rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar. MSF, which has worked in Leer for 25 years, evacuated staff. They returned this week to find their hospital — a facility that serves 300,000 people — destroyed.
Kenya's top security body warned Tuesday that violence in South Sudan is worsening. It condemned "escalating military activities ... in total disregard and violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement" that Nairobi helped broker last month.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Wednesday in the latest effort by neighboring countries to try to implement the cease-fire and bring the two sides back to negotiations. That followed a visit the day before by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, who was pushing for the resumption of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Al Jazeera and wire services
The men carrying out the fighting have shown "absolutely no respect for health care workers," said Gorgeu. "We don't want to leave South Sudan, definitely not, but we have to look at things very carefully now. It is not the investment we put in but the trust and the respect we put in that is actually put into question."
Gorgeu said MSF was not planning on pulling out of South Sudan, where 800,000 people are displaced and 3.2 million are in immediate need of food because of fighting that broke out in mid-December. Thousands have died in the violence.
In late January, thousands of residents fled as fighting broke out in Leer, the hometown of rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar. MSF, which has worked in Leer for 25 years, evacuated staff. They returned this week to find their hospital — a facility that serves 300,000 people — destroyed.
Kenya's top security body warned Tuesday that violence in South Sudan is worsening. It condemned "escalating military activities ... in total disregard and violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement" that Nairobi helped broker last month.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Wednesday in the latest effort by neighboring countries to try to implement the cease-fire and bring the two sides back to negotiations. That followed a visit the day before by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, who was pushing for the resumption of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Al Jazeera and wire services
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