Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and healthcare facilities, forced recruitment, sexual violence and worsening humanitarian access are pushing South Sudan deeper into crisis, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said in a report released on Tuesday.
The report, titled “They Killed Them While We Were Running”, documented escalating violence across the country and said 12 attacks on MSF staff and facilities between January 2025 and April 2026 left an estimated 762,000 people without access to healthcare.
MSF called on the government of South Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition and all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and clinics.
“Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare, must never be targeted,” the organisation said, adding that direct attacks on them constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Under international humanitarian law, all parties to a conflict are required to protect civilians and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate use of force, including air strikes and incendiary weapons in populated areas.
“I ran away with my child. I could see the village burning from afar,” a displaced woman treated at an MSF facility in Chuil, in Jonglei state, said in the report.
“They set houses on fire. They burned my grandmother inside the tukul. The elderly stayed behind because they could not run with us. They killed the elders,” she added.
MSF said both targeted and indiscriminate attacks on civilians had intensified in several parts of the country, worsening already severe humanitarian conditions marked by displacement, hunger and limited access to medical care.
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