Aid workers missing after airstrikes hit South Sudan hospital

Aid workers are missing after airstrikes hit a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Jonglei state, South Sudan, near the Ethiopian border, on Tuesday night. MSF reports that the hospital in Lankien was struck by government forces, destroying the main warehouse and medical supplies; one staff member was injured. Separately, MSF's health facility in Pieri, also in Jonglei state, was looted by unknown assailants, rendering it unusable. The attacks occurred amidst renewed fighting between government forces and opposition forces loyal to First Vice-President Riek Machar in Jonglei, where an estimated 280,000 people have been displaced since December. MSF, the only health provider for around 250,000 people in the area, had evacuated the Lankien hospital after receiving information about a possible strike.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that one of its hospitals in Lankien, Jonglei state, South Sudan, was hit by a government air strike on Tuesday, marking the tenth attack on an MSF facility in the country in the last year. The hospital had been evacuated prior to the strike, but one staff member sustained minor injuries and the main warehouse, containing critical medical supplies, was destroyed. In a separate incident, MSF's health facility in Pieri, also in Jonglei, was looted, rendering it unusable. MSF stated that it had previously shared the GPS coordinates of its facilities with the government and other parties to the conflict. These incidents occurred after the government imposed restrictions on humanitarian access in opposition-held areas of Jonglei in December.