Seven killed at a hospital in South Sudan and market bombing, says charity

At least seven people were killed after a hospital and market were bombed in South Sudan, a medical charity said, as fears of returning to the Civil War are growing.

Doctors without borders (MSF) said weapons helicopters had a bomb on the hospital pharmacy, which managed in Old Fangak, Yonghai, burning it before shooting for 30 minutes. The drone is then bombarded a local market, MSF said.

The hospital is the only one in Fangak County, which has a population of over 110,000 people, MSF said and all its medical supplies were destroyed.

The charity called the attack, which left 20 people injured, “a clear violation of international humanitarian law.”

MSF Mamman Mustafa spokesman said BBC’s new program The charity was still trying to establish the facts, but local witnesses had said the planes were “helicopters of government forces.”

“The hospital is clearly marked as a” hospital “with our logo,” he said. “We also shared our coordinates for all warring countries in the area, so the hospital should be known to both countries as a hospital.”

There was no immediate comment from the South Sudan government. The BBC contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In recent weeks, Nicholas High, who has led the UN mission in South Sudan, has warned that the country “stops on the verge of returning to a full -scale civil war.”

These concerns were embedded by an escalating feud between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Rick Machar.

Hours before the bombing, army leader Paul Majok Nang has promised penalty strikes after several barge on the river were abducted.

He accused these attacks against a militia related to Vice President Machar who did not comment on the claim.

Machar was arrested in March with several of his associates and accused of trying to rebel.

Recently, the government has listed the county, which it considers hostile – in other words, allied to the Machar.

This has increased the suspicion that South Sudan may focus on another conflict, including the two largest ethnic groups in the country.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but two years later, a civil war broke out when President Kiir rejected the Machar as Vice President, accusing him of plotting a coup.

The subsequent conflict, to a large extent, fights ethnic lines between the supporters of the two leaders, led to approximately 400,000 deaths and 2.5 million people forced by their homes – more than fifth of the population.

In 2018, a peaceful deal and government of unity, built with the same two men, was reached, but the elections that had to be called since then did not happen.

The peace deal was also intended to see the end of all the militias and the formation of a united army – but this has not happened and many armed groups are still loyal to different politicians.

The current crisis was fierce this year, when the White Army police, which had allied as a Machar during the Civil War, was confronted with the Army in the U.D.

Then, in March, a UN helicopter trying to evacuate the troops fell under fire, leaving several dead, including a high -ranking army general.

The rights are calling for the military to stop bombing civilian areas.

Extra reporting by Yemisi Adegoke & Nichola Mandil