Norwegian Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, on Thursday called Saturday airstrikes on a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Old Fangak, Jonglei State, by South Sudan’s government “unacceptable.”
At least seven people were killed after a hospital and market were bombed in Jonglei State on May 3 as fears grow of a return to civil war.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said helicopter gunships dropped a bomb on the pharmacy of the hospital it runs in Old Fangak, Jonglei state, on Saturday, burning it down, before firing on the town.
‘The military attack on an MSF hospital is unacceptable and cuts off medical access for thousands of civilians. I am deeply concerned about the development in South Sudan,” Barth said in a statement issued on Thursday.
He said the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan called for an investigation and protection of health workers.
He said the political and security situation in South Sudan has recently deteriorated since before the current peace agreement was signed in 2018.
He called on leaders to put the well-being of their people first.
‘This is a politically manufactured crisis. I urge South Sudanese leaders to ensure the safety and freedom of all citizens, including political opponents, and to return to dialogue urgently aimed at achieving a political solution. This way they will put their people first.”
