The attack on the civilian hospital by NIF Government of Sudan was yet another barbaric and uncivilised behaviour of the present Islamic regime against innocent civilians. It appeared that the government intended and planned to destroy Yei hospital. There was no way that the hospital could have been mistaken for the military target. Up to 1997 the government soldiers were in Yei. They knew the army barracks and the location of the hospital, which is not near to military targets. It was reported that in the last two weeks, government planes had attempted to bomb the hospital. Their two previous attempts to hit the hospital failed. 

Deliberate attack on a civilian institution such as the hospital is a gross violation of Human Rights. Sudan is a member of the United Nations. It is a signatory to many United Nations Conventions among others Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Interntional Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. The government’s obligation to protect its own citizens has fallen below the expected standard. 

The government’s systematic policy of aerial bombardment appears to be a deliberate and well- 
calculated mission aimed to cause maximum panic and fear in civilians. It was reported that the civilian population was leaving Yei in great numbers. Even patients admitted in hospital had left their treatment unfinished, going to the countryside in fear of aerial bombardment. 

In another separate incident , twenty people were killed in Thiet town, in Bahr el Ghazal region when the plane bombed the area on 1st March 1998. The government plane also bombed Koli town, March 5th, in Southern Blue Nile, in which eight people were injured . According to our source, these injured have been evacuated and are receiving treatment in Kenya. In Eastern Equatoria, Kiyala and Ikotos were also bombed on 5th March 1998, many civilians were injured. 

Meanwhile, a major humanitarian disaster is unfolding itself in Bahr el Ghazal. Reports reaching here from our member churches said that if International Community takes no quick steps, there would be serious humanitarian disaster. It was reported that 100,000 people have fled Wau in search of food, water, shelter and security. These people are mainly displaced in Rumbek, Tonj and Mapel. The senior church leader who has just been to these areas reported that people are dying in great numbers of malaria and acute diarrhoea. 

We are deeply concerned about the conditions of the civilians in Bahr el Ghazal, and we deplore the behaviour of the NIF régime in Khartoum. Although the government has lifted the flight ban to Bahr el Ghazal, it has not lifted bans to those places that desperately need relief food. We call the government to unconditionally lift bans for the rest of region so that OLS and relief agencies will deliver relief food to the suffering people. We call upon international community to take bold and decisive actions and exert maximum diplomatic pressure on the NIF government to allow relief food to be taken to the Southern Sudan. The Sudan government must understand that it must honour acceptable international recognised norms of Human Rights.