Following inter-communal violence on January 11 in northern Jonglei State, South Sudan, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is treating several people with serious wounds, including women and children.
South Sudan 2012 © Parthesarathy Rajendran/MSF
The pharmacy at the MSF-run hosptail in Pibor, Jonglei state, lies in ruin after it was ransacked in inter-communal violence.
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN/NEW YORK, JANUARY 13, 2012—Following inter-communal violence on January 11 in northern Jonglei State, South Sudan, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is treating several people with serious wounds, including women and children.
Thirteen severely wounded people were medically evacuated by air from the MSF clinic in Yuai, Jonglei State, to the MSF hospital in Nasir, Upper Nile State, where they have received urgent surgical care. Five adult women and two adult men suffered gunshot wounds. The remaining patients are children under five, who suffered beatings or gunshot wounds.
“We are very concerned that the majority of the wounded in this latest wave of violence are women and children,” said MSF head of mission Jose Hulsenbek. “The 13 patients have survived the night, but some of the children are still in critical condition with severe head trauma ” she said.
MSF supports a small outreach clinic in Yuai, about two hours outside of Wek, Uror County, where the latest violence took place. MSF is continuing to monitor the situation; if more severely wounded people arrive at the Yuai clinic they will be referred to the MSF-run hospital in Nasir.
This latest round of inter-communal violence follows attacks in late December and early January in Pibor County, where the MSF-run hospital in Pibor town was looted and ransacked. MSF emergency teams resumed medical activities in Pibor town on Sunday, January 8.
MSF has demonstrated its complete impartiality and neutrality over the years, working in many different communities in South Sudan. In 2011, three MSF medical facilities were targeted in Jonglei State. MSF condemns the targeting of medical facilities by any armed group. The organization remains committed to providing humanitarian aid and medical assistance to the population of Jonglei State.
