The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning about the “high risk of biological hazard” after a central public laboratory with samples of measles and polio was seized by one of the sides fighting in the conflict in Sudan. The situation has been described as “extremely, extremely dangerous”.
Dr. Nima Saeed Abid, the WHO Representative in Sudan, spoke to reporters in Geneva, Switzerland via video link, raising concerns about the occupation of the central public health lab. “There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab… by one of the fighting parties,” Abid said.
This development is a serious setback for the public health system in Sudan, where measles and polio are still major concerns. With the loss of these samples, there could be a setback in the efforts to combat the diseases in the country. It is unclear which of the fighting parties is responsible for seizing the laboratory.
The WHO is currently working with the Sudanese government to ensure that the public health system is not disrupted any further. It has called on all parties involved in the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and protect health facilities and workers.
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7 Responses
The thinning of the herd.
Sounds like another WHO coup.
usa initiated the separation of South Sudan in 2011, but instead of supporting both states, Washington imposed sanctions and kept imposing demands. “This is a form of geopolitical engineering and doesn’t bring about any positive results,” adding that outside powers should not interfere on the continent, but allow for “African solutions to African problems.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco, Major General William Hartman of the US army said that the Pentagon’s Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) has deployed 43 ‘cyber soldiers’ worldwide.
“Those are defense teams we send, and [they] hunt for shared adversaries, find tools and capabilities,” he told the news agency.
Demand for these teams has increased in the last three years, Hartman said, revealing that US ‘cybersoldiers’ have conducted 47 operations in 20 different countries in that time frame. The general added that US cyber operatives were deployed at the invitation of the countries in question.
The CNMF was formed in 2014 and was made a unified command under the United States Cyber Command last year. Its jurisdiction appears to be both domestic and international, with the US Cyber Command website stating that CNMF staff are drawn from the US army, air force, navy, and marine corps, all of which are tasked with conducting operations abroad. At the same time, the website describes these operatives as working with the FBI and Department of National Security, both of which operate on US soil.
“CNMF’s mission is to plan, direct and synchronize full-spectrum cyberspace operations to deter, disrupt and if necessary, defeat adversary cyber and malign influence actors,” the website states.
Please keep irradiating us with your whole ‘panoplie’ of waves that you are playing with, at one point my body is gonna find a way to turn those into a ‘now turned me on’ technology…
why would either side be attacking medical facilities?
@shloimeboruch : excellent question. More likely foreign powers will use silent weapons/ biological warfare to prolong the conflict, so one side can eventually accuse the other one.