from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan Bureau
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – THE death of five girls and injury of 20 other children is a grim reminder how children are bearing the brunt of attacks on public facilities in Sudan.
The tragedy emanates from a bombing that devastated a school and marketplace in the city of El Obeid on Wednesday.
Al-Khansa Secondary School for Girls and a crowded marketplace in El Obeid city in Kordofan state, suffered the bomb attack.
This attack followed another on Sunday where a shell struck a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) -supported child-friendly space in Al Hattana, Khartoum state, killing two boys and injuring at least eight others.
Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative in Sudan, denounced the attacks and loss of lives.
“Attacks on schools represent a grave violation against children,” Yett said, adding, “Such attacks disrupt and deprive children of their education.”
Other strikes against health facilities have hit in other regions in the country since forces of the military government started battling formerly allied rival militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in April last year.
Some schools have remained closed due to the conflict, leaving over 17 million school-aged children without access to safe education.
Hundreds of partially opened schools are used as shelters for internally displaced people, further restricting children’s access to education.
Since the beginning of the brutal civil war, over 110 schools and hospitals have been attacked.
Thousands of children have been killed and injured.
“Many more have been exposed to other grave violations including sexual violence and recruitment or use in the conflict,” Yett said.
The envoy noted there had been a five-fold increase in grave violations against children in 2024 than two years prior.
“Attacks on schools, health facilities and other civilian objects must stop immediately,” Yett said.
– CAJ News