UN rights chief condemns killing of six peacekeepers in Sudan's Kadugli

GENEVA, Dec 16 (Kuna) -- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk strongly condemned the killing of six UN peacekeepers in drone strikes on a UN base in Kadugli - the capital city of South Kordofan State, Sudan, on December 13.
Targeting peacekeeping personnel may amount to a war crime, he said in a statement issued in Geneva on Tuesday.
Turk also decried the drone strike that hit a kindergarten and a hospital in (Kalogi) in South Kordofan killed at least 89 civilians including eight women and 43 children. He added that on December 14 another drone strike targeted on a hospital in Dilling city, South Kordofan, killing at least six people and injured 12 others among them medical personnel.
He stressed that medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law. He reported that at least 104 civilians have been killed in numerous drone attacks across the Kordofan region since 4 December. Turk sounded alarm by the further intensification in hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in the Kordofan region urging all parties to the conflict and States with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities. (end) imk.gb