The United Nations has warned in recent weeks that the country is on the verge of a new civil war.
At least seven people were killed and another 20 injured in the attack on the South Sudan town. The borderless medical charity known for French initials MSF said the world’s youngest nation will recur in an all-out civil war as fear grows.
MSF said on Saturday that the attacks destroyed the last remaining functional hospitals and pharmacies in old Whangak north of the country.
In the X-Post, MSF said, “Stop the bombings. Protect civilians. Protect health care,” and said the attack was a “clear violation of international law.”
It was not immediately clear why the facility was targeted. A spokesman for the South Sudanese military could not be reached for comment, according to an Associated Press news agency.
courtday Today, MSF hospital in Old Whangak, South Sudan was bombed.
The pharmacy was destroyed. All medical supplies have been lost. There have been reports of people killed and injured.
This is the only functional hospital in the area.
Stop the bombing. Protects civilians. Protect your healthcare. pic.twitter.com/2xvtev0slp
– MSF South Sudan (@MSF_SouthSudan) May 3, 2025
According to some witnesses, additional strikes occurred just hours later near the market in the old Whangak, causing widespread panic and displacement among civilians.
Tensions surged between the troops allied with President Salva Kir and first Vice President Leek Machar.
Old Wangak is one of several major towns in Wangak County, an ethnically noore part of the country that was historically associated with opposition parties loyal to Machar, and is now under house arrest on suspicion of overthrow.
The UN has warned in recent weeks that South Sudan is on the brink of a new civil war as violence among rivals escalates.
South Sudan fell into a bloody civil war shortly after its independence in 2011. This is because Kiel, the Dinka of the ethnic group, fought against people who were loyal to the ethnic group, Machar, and he was alongside the army.
The conflict killed more than 40,000 people before the pair formed a government of national unity through the 2018 peace agreement.
The hospital attack is the latest escalation in government-led attacks on opposition groups across the country. Since March, government forces supported by Ugandan soldiers have carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting areas in the neighbouring Nile River Province.
Several Western embassies, including the United States, said in a statement Friday that South Sudan’s political and security situation has recently been “significantly worsened.”
The embassy urged Kiel to free Macher from house arrest and called for a “return to dialogue urgently aimed at achieving political solutions.”
The election, which was supposed to be held in 2023, has already been postponed twice and is currently not scheduled until 2026.
