Sudan: Burhan Survives a Drone Attack that Killed 5 People in the Country’s East

FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
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Sudan: Burhan Survives a Drone Attack that Killed 5 People in the Country’s East

FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa

A drone strike targeted an eastern Sudanese army base during a visit by the army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Tuesday, eyewitnesses told Reuters on Wednesday, casting doubt over recent efforts to bring an end to a 15-month civil war.
A statement by the army said the attack took place at a graduation ceremony at the Gibet army base, about 100 km (62 miles) from the army's de facto capital Port Sudan in Sudan's Red Sea state, and that five people were killed.
The drone attack is the latest in a string of such attacks on army locations in recent months, and the closest to Port Sudan.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the army's rival in the war, has not claimed responsibility for any of them, and did not comment on Tuesday's incident.



WHO Chief Tedros Says Polio Detected in Gaza, Appeals for Action

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during an event about expanding health coverage for all during the IMF and World Bank’s 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington, US, April 18, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during an event about expanding health coverage for all during the IMF and World Bank’s 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington, US, April 18, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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WHO Chief Tedros Says Polio Detected in Gaza, Appeals for Action

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during an event about expanding health coverage for all during the IMF and World Bank’s 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington, US, April 18, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during an event about expanding health coverage for all during the IMF and World Bank’s 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington, US, April 18, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that polio had been detected in Gaza and warned that children in the war-ravaged enclave would soon be infected by the disease if preventative measures were not quickly taken, Reuters reported.

A day after the WHO said there were "very likely" polio cases among Gaza's population, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took to social media platform X to flag concern about the human cost of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

"The detection of polio in Gaza is another reminder of the dire conditions the population is facing," Tedros wrote on X. "The persistence of the conflict hampers efforts to identify and respond to preventable threats such as polio."

Tedros linked his post to an article he had written in French newspaper Le Monde, published late on Tuesday, in which he said poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples in Gaza.

In the article, the WHO chief wrote that although no cases of polio had yet been recorded, "unless immediate action is taken, it is only a matter of time before the disease reaches the thousands of unprotected children" there.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the faecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis and death in young children.

Polio cases have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts to eradicate it.

The WHO is sending more than a million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered in the coming weeks to prevent children from becoming infected with the disease, Tedros said.