WHO Calls for an End to Bloodshed in Sudan After Killing of Doctor in El-Fasher

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday urged an immediate end to the ongoing bloodshed in Sudan, expressing sorrow over the killing of Dr. Adam Ibrahim Ismail in the city of El-Fasher.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ghebreyesus said, “The World Health Organization mourns the death of Dr. Adam Ibrahim Ismail and calls for an end to violence against health workers. The bloodshed in Sudan must stop.”

According to the Sudan Doctors’ Network, the physician was executed in the field last Wednesday by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El-Fasher, western Sudan. The El-Fasher Resistance Committees also mourned his death, describing him as a doctor who “dedicated his life to serving the people of his city during the siege, offering care and assistance to all those in need until he was struck down by RSF bullets.”

On October 26, the RSF seized control of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, committing massacres against civilians, according to local and international organizations. The attacks have raised concerns about the risk of a de facto geographic partition of the country.

Days later, on October 29, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti) acknowledged that “violations” had occurred in El-Fasher and claimed to have formed investigative committees.

Currently, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region, except for parts of northern North Darfur that remain under Sudanese army control. The army continues to hold most of the remaining 13 states across southern, northern, eastern, and central Sudan, including the capital, Khartoum.