The World Health Organization (WHO) warned about the existence of a “great biohazard” associated with the occupation of a public health laboratory in the Sudan’s capital after fighters seized the building.
The organization said that combatants in the conflict occupied the National Public Health Laboratory in Khartoum, where samples of diseases such as poliomyelitis and the measlescreating a situation “extremely, extremely dangerous“.
Civil war in Sudan: 6 keys to the armed conflict that accumulates hundreds of deaths and thousands of refugees
Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease, which can cause death in a matter of hours if left untreated, while measles is a highly contagious viral disease, as is polio, which largely affects children under the age of 5 years.
“There is an enormous biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health laboratory”said Nima Saeed Abid, WHO representative in Sudan. “They kidnapped all the technicians from the laboratory which is now completely under the control of one of the fighting parties as a military base,” he added.
Sudan lives hours of blood: there are dozens of deaths, including several UN employees
He denounced that the scientists could not access the place to secure the materials. “This is the main concern: there is no access for laboratory technicians to go to the laboratory and safely contain the biological material and substances available”Abid said, declining to specify which faction had taken over the facility.
The violence in the African country, of some 45 million inhabitants, was unleashed on April 15 by the fight between the army of General Abdel Fatah al Burhan, de facto ruler of Sudan since the 2021 coup, and his rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR).
Crisis and violence in Sudan: the Army and paramilitaries dispute power with two feuding generals
The ten days of deadly fighting between the army and paramilitaries Until April 25, they left more than 460 dead and more than 4,000 injured. A US-brokered 72-hour ceasefire between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) officially went into effect on Tuesday after 10 days of urban fighting.
Meanwhile, hundreds of UN officials, aid workers, diplomats and their families, as well as some foreign civilian personnel, have been evacuated.
Over 400 killed in Sudan faction fighting
In Khartoum, the capital of more than five million inhabitants, the war between the two generals vying for power ended an already broken health system in a country hit for decades by wars and international sanctions. In total, according to the medical union, 13 hospitals were bombed and another 19 forced to close for lack of material or because they were taken over.
The United Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA) has been forced to reduce some of its activities in parts of Sudan due to heavy fighting and at least five aid workers have been killed since the fighting broke out and the two UN agencies that have lost staff , the International Organization for Migration and the World Food Program suspended their activities.
Alert for a possible case of measles in the City of Buenos Aires
“In areas where heavy fighting has hampered our humanitarian operations, we have been forced to reduce our footprint,” said Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson. “But we are committed to continuing to deliver for the people of Sudan.”
Patrick Youssef, regional director for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), urged other countries to continue pressing Sudan to find a “durable solution” even after the foreigners have been evacuated.
A US-brokered 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan’s warring generals officially went into effect Tuesday after 10 days of urban fighting that killed hundreds, wounded thousands and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners.
ds
You may also like