The MSF facility targeted by SSPDF air strikes on Saturday morning in Old Fangak County, Jonglei State, South Sudan. |Credit: MSF|.
Monday 5 May 2025
The South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), supported by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), carried out air strikes on Old Fangak County in Jonglei State, resulting in seven deaths and twenty injuries.
MSF reported that helicopter gunships targeted the pharmacy of the hospital it operates in Old Fangak, resulting in a fire that destroyed the facility. The airstrike operation on Saturday (2 May) lasted for 30 minutes as the helicopters fired on the town. A drone also reportedly bombed a local market.
At least 110,000 people are at risk of diseases, as the only hospital in Old Fangak has been destroyed by the government soldiers.
“Old Fangak Hospital is the only hospital in Fangak County, serving a population of over 110,000 people who already had extremely limited access to healthcare. We are still assessing the full extent of the damage and the impact on our ability to provide care, but this attack clearly means people will now be even further cut off from receiving life-saving treatment. We call on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure—this includes health workers, patients, and health facilities. Hospitals must never be targeted, and the lives of civilians must be protected,” Mamman Mustapha, MSF Head of Mission in South Sudan, said in a press statement extended to The Golden Times news outlet.
“At 8 am, we received around 20 wounded people at our hospital in Old Fangak, including four in a critical condition,” Mustapha said.
“There are reports of more fatalities and wounded in the community. One patient and two caregivers, including one of our staff, who were already inside the hospital, were injured in the bombing – patients who were not in a critical condition ran from the facility,” he added.
The Embassies of Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the Delegation of the European Union, condemned the bombing of the MSF hospital and other civilian sites in Fangak County.
The international community echoes the African Union Commission Chairperson’s call for accountability.
“All parties share responsibility to end the violence in all parts of the country and to protect both civilians and aid workers. It is time for South Sudan’s leaders to put their people first,” the embassies said in their joint statement.
The Commissioner of Fangak County, Biel Boutrous said the aerial bombardment in Old Fangak town has caused extensive damage and resulted in four deaths, including a nine-month-old child.
Boutrous called on the national government to halt all its air raids on the Old Fangak to spare the lives of civilians and the critical lifesaving facilities.
Boutros revealed that the hospital and the market were the primary targets of the aerial bombardments, adding that women are now struggling to care for those nursing wounds in the hospital.
South Sudan’s peace monitoring body, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), strongly condemned the attack on a market and a medical facility.
Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, the Army Spokesperson, stated that they were targeting the armed opposition forces and the White Army armed group, which are allegedly operating in Old Fangak County.
The air raids came barely a day after Lul Ruai accused the SPLA-IO forces and the White Army armed group of holding some barges allegedly belonging to the United Nations and a Sudanese businessman hostage, a claim denied by the SPLA-IO Spokesperson, Col. Lam Gabriel.
The SSPDF and UPDF have been jointly attacking the SPLA-IO and White Army positions, threatening the cessation of hostilities and the permanent ceasefire agreement signed in 2018 as part of the revitalised peace agreement that temporarily silenced guns in most parts of the country.
