Bombing Fangak Hospital: Wars that Target Health Facilities Are the Most Destructive and Inhuman Experiences in South Sudan
Fangak Hospital bombed in Jonglei state
By Agar Mayor Gai-Makoon, Cairo, Egypt
Thursday, 08 May 2025 (PW) — Wars that target health facilities represent the most destructive and inhuman experiences imaginable. On Saturday, August 5, 1944, as German rule in Poland was collapsing, German forces massacred staff and patients at the Wola hospital and other health facilities. Many died not from the illnesses that brought them there, but from bullets and knives wielded by German soldiers. Wola hospital, once a sanctuary, became a slaughterhouse for patients, doctors, and suspected insurgents whom the Germans believed were using the premises for meetings.
The presumed safety of hospitals as life-saving sanctuaries was devastatingly inverted for the Polish population. German forces exploited these facilities precisely because they concentrated vulnerable people in one location. Of the 12,000 Polish citizens killed in the first days of the massacre, 360 were patients and staff of Wola hospital alone.
These actions not only challenged the humanitarian role of healthcare during conflict but undermined the fundamental principle of civilian protection, especially for women, children, and the sick. This is why the world has established protocols limiting the scope and targets of warfare. Black Saturday, commemorated annually on August 5, reminds us of war’s devastating impact on civilians, patients, and health facilities.
What unfolded in Fangak County, Jonglei State on the morning of Saturday, May 3, 2025, brings the Black Saturday remembrance forward by three months. Our government needs to recognize that bombing hospitals, whether intentional or due to tactical aerial errors, constitutes a grave assault on humanity and undermines all efforts to protect lives regardless of tribal or political affiliations.
South Sudan’s health system is already struggling severely. We face shortages of hospitals, medicines, and healthcare personnel, compounded by inadequate salaries for those who do serve. These factors have imposed an enormous burden on our civilian population. No government in good conscience should take actions that exacerbate this existing health crisis. According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the now-destroyed Old Fangak hospital served more than 100,000 people in Fangak County.
With the facility and its medicine stores demolished, the lives of these hundred thousand people now hang in the balance, a government-inflicted risk. This has created additional burdens for the Ministry of Health and humanitarian partners who should be focusing resources on areas without healthcare access rather than rebuilding what was needlessly destroyed.
This miscalculation by the government worsens South Sudan’s health situation, which the WHO already ranks among the world’s most precarious. Our nation grapples with poverty, illiteracy, and disease, but South Sudanese have always looked to their government with hope. These internal conflicts are extinguishing that hope. If our government continues to pursue “peace through war,” we risk descending into chaos and anarchy.
Every South Sudanese citizen is aware of the challenges in Upper Nile and Jonglei states, but no amount of dissent justifies bombing a hospital and innocent civilians. Our government must reconsider its approach to problems and renounce armed confrontation. While war may establish temporary control, it never brings lasting peace.
The issues facing South Sudan, though significant, are not insurmountable. Conflicts naturally arise in emerging nations, but the critical factor is how we manage them. Employing tribalism and creating tactical divisions in hopes of ending hostilities is dangerously misguided. Such approaches only deepen differences among our people, making reconciliation increasingly difficult.
We must exercise great care in addressing national problems lest we create further chaos and instability. Dialogue with communities in Nasir, Ulang, Fangak, and across South Sudan represents the most effective approach. This path is cost-effective and transparent, sparing South Sudan its most precious resource, the lives of its people. Let us choose this path forward.
The writer has a background in sociopolitical philosophy and currently studies medicine at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. He can be reached at +201129107334 or thieng.thiengwada@gmail.com.
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