Juba -On Monday, 5 August, a group of armed men attacked a car belonging to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on a main road outside Juba, South Sudan. 

Two MSF staff members were seriously injured, one of them died from his injuries two days later. The car was clearly marked as belonging to MSF.

The exact circumstances of this attack are not yet clear, and MSF is still trying to better understand what happened.

MSF is outraged by this unprovoked attack on a humanitarian organisation that has been working in South Sudan for over thirty years. These kinds of incidents impact directly on the ability of aid workers to provide much needed, life-saving medical assistance.

“We have requested the authorities to investigate the brutal attack that resulted in the killing of our colleague,” says Marcel Langenbach, Director of Operations.

Our colleague who died was twenty-eight year old Joseph, who had been working for the organisation since 2012.

“Joseph was an excellent colleague,” says Raphael Gorgeu, Country Manager for MSF in South Sudan. “His personality and positive attitude will be missed by the whole team. His tragic death is a terrible loss for his family, MSF and for his country.”

“We want to emphasise the need to respect international humanitarian law and on the obligation to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers, their property and health facilities,” says Langenbach.