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South Sudan: MSF condemns the killing and wounding of its team members near Juba
A colleague has been killed and one injured after a group of armed men attacked an MSF car on a main road outside Juba. MSF is outraged by this unprovoked attack on a humanitarian organisation.
On Monday, 5th of August, a group of armed men attacked a car belonging to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on a main road outside Juba. Two MSF staff members were seriously injured, one of them died from his injuries two days later.
The car was clearly marked as belonging to MSF. The exact circumstances of this attack are not yet clear, and MSF is still trying to better understand what happened.
MSF is outraged by this unprovoked attack on a humanitarian organisation that has been working in South Sudan for over thirty years. These kinds of incidents impact directly on the ability of aid workers to provide much needed, life-saving medical assistance.
“We have requested the authorities to investigate the brutal attack that resulted in the killing of our colleague,” says Marcel Langenbach, Director of Operations.
Our colleague who died was 28-year-old Joseph, who had been working for the organisation since 2012.
“Joseph was an excellent colleague,” says Raphael Gorgeu, Country Manager for MSF in South Sudan. “His personality and positive attitude will be missed by the whole team. His tragic death is a terrible loss for his family, MSF and for his country.”
“We want to emphasise the need to respect international humanitarian law and on the obligation to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers, their property and health facilities,” says Langenbach.
MSF in South Sudan
MSF is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that has been delivering emergency aid to the South Sudanese people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural disasters for the last 30 years.
In 2012 alone, MSF provided 702,634 outpatient consultations, admitted 34,324 patients to hospital, treated 141,525 people for malaria, assisted 10,918 births, treated 29,018 children for malnutrition, performed 3,257 surgeries and vaccinated 253,237 children against measles.