Doctors Without Borders withdraws staff from Sudan’s Darfur hospital after worker killed

KHARTOUM, Sudan / ISTANBUL

Medical group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday that it had withdrawn its staff from Zalingei Hospital in Central Darfur after a health worker was killed and four others were injured in a shooting outside the facility in western Sudan.

MSF did not identify who opened fire, though the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized Zalingei since October 2023.

The group offered condolences in a statement to the family of a stretcher-bearer employed by the Sudanese Health Ministry who was killed in the Nov. 18 shooting outside Zalingei hospital.

“Following this incident, and for the second time this year, we have been forced to withdraw staff from Zalingei hospital to ensure the safety of our teams,” it said.

“Our teams cannot resume humanitarian activities until the RSF guarantees safe conditions for staff and patients,” said Mariam Al-Aroussi, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Darfur.

“It is unacceptable for armed confrontations to affect medical facilities and humanitarian aid,” she added.

MSF said it has maintained “continuous active engagement” with various authorities since Nov. 18 to work on securing protection for the facility.

The group said it will continue, during the withdrawal period, “to provide support for human resources and supply medicines.”

The attack follows a previous suspension of activities in August, when MSF halted all operations at the hospital after a grenade exploded inside the facility, killing one person and injuring five others.

“The ongoing violence disrupts access to healthcare for hundreds of people in need at a time when MSF has been responding actively to a measles outbreak in the area,” MSF said.

Between April and Nov. 20, 2025, MSF received a total of 850 measles patients, 36% of whom suffered from severe acute malnutrition, the group said.

The RSF now controls all five Darfur states, out of Sudan’s 18 states, while the army holds most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.

Darfur makes up about one-fifth of Sudan’s territory, but most of the country’s 50 million people live in army-held areas.

The conflict in Sudan between the army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization.