Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been forced to reduce its teams and suspend all activities at the MSF-supported hospital in Central Darfur state, Sudan, following a violent armed assault inside the facility on the night of 16 August. The attack left one person dead and injured five others, including a Ministry of Health staff member. This suspension of medical activities comes during a deadly cholera outbreak. MSF cannot resume operations until all parties provide clear security guarantees to protect staff and patients.
The assault took place at Zalingei hospital on the night of 16 August, after a deceased person with a gunshot wound, reportedly from a looting incident in a nearby camp for displaced people, was brought to the emergency room around 8:20 pm. Armed relatives of the deceased forcefully entered the hospital. Soon after, another patient with gunshot injuries arrived, also accompanied by armed individuals. Tensions between the groups accompanying the patients escalated inside the facility, and at 10 pm, a hand grenade was detonated in front of the emergency room, killing one person. Five others were injured, including one member of the Ministry of Health medical staff.
Suspending our activities and evacuating our teams is a decision no medical organisation wants to make, but our staff cannot risk their lives while providing care.Marwan Taher, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Darfur, Sudan
“One person has already lost his life in this explosion and more could have been killed if it had happened during the day, when the hospital was full of patients,” says Marwan Taher, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Darfur. “Suspending our activities and evacuating our teams is a decision no medical organization wants to make, but our staff cannot risk their lives while providing care.”
Since 1 August, MSF has been leading a cholera emergency response at Zalingei hospital, treating 162 patients in just 16 days, in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health. Cholera has already claimed seven lives, and Zalingei hospital is the only facility equipped to treat severe cases in Central Darfur state.
MSF teams also supported the State Ministry of Health with surveillance to contain the outbreak. Beyond cholera, the hospital provided over 1,500 gynaecological consultations, 1,400 pediatric consultations, and 80 surgeries, between May and July 2025. As the only referral hospital serving around 500,000 people, it is the sole facility managing complex cases in the area. MSF’s mobile clinic in Fogodiku locality and community engagement and health promotion activities have also been suspended, leaving thousands without essential care.
For more than 40 years, MSF has been on the frontlines of Sudan’s major crises, from disease outbreaks to malnutrition peaks, and we continue to support communities through the ongoing conflict. Protecting our medical teams is essential to ensuring they can deliver care. Already in February 2024, armed men broke into Zalingei hospital and carjacked MSF rental vehicles, forcing the temporary withdrawal of our assessment team before activities even began. The 16 August assault marks the second major security incident in Zalingei hospital in one and a half years.
“Attacks on hospitals and medical staff are unacceptable and put lives at risk,” says Taher. “The presence of guns inside a medical facility makes it impossible for our teams to operate safely. Without clear guarantees from the concerned parties for the safety of both Ministry of Health and MSF staff, we cannot continue our work. People in Zalingei urgently need healthcare, and their access to it must be protected.”
‘Everything was instant warfare’: personal reflections on Sudan from an MSF doctor
Children in Darfur urgently need immunisation as measles spreads
