The World Health Organization has issued a warning about a “high risk of biological hazard” after one of Sudan’s warring factions captured a laboratory harboring lethal viruses.
According to Reuters, WHO spokesperson Nima Saeed Abid told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that technicians were not able to get to the lab in Khartoum and sufficiently secure the germs.
The facility is said to be near the city center, close to Khartoum’s main airport.
Pathogens that cause polio, measles, and cholera are among the dangerous materials maintained on-site.
“This is the primary concern: there is no access for lab technicians to get to the lab to safely control all of the biological materials and substances available,” Abid explained.
It is still unknown which side took control of the laboratory.
After nearly 30 years in power, autocratic President Omar al-Bashir was deposed and jailed in August 2019. Following that, in an uneasy relationship, the military and civilians shared authority.
The power-sharing government, however, was abolished in October 2021 by Sudan’s military including the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to CNN, Sudan’s senior general, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, was responsible for the military coup.
Both the army and the RSF were supposed to transfer authority, but this was clearly not to be.
Fighting erupted on April 15, with both factions attempting to capitalize on Khartoum’s power vacuum.
RSF chief General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, often known as Hemedti, is in opposition to al-Burhan.
While the army has greater resources along with air power, the RSF has amassed around 100,000 fighters throughout the country, according to Reuters.
According to the WHO, fighting among the two armies has now killed 459 people and wounded 4,072.
Although it is unknown if either army would triumph over the country of 46 million people, whomever wins may have to deal with indigenous biological weapons.
Sudanese rebels “kicked out every technician from the lab… which is totally under the command of just one of the warring parties as a military base,” according to WHO spokeswoman Nima Saeed Abid.
According to Abid, the consequence is an “extremely, extremely hazardous” situation.
According to Politico, the lab seizure occurred one day before the 72-hour truce involving the army and the RSF, which was proclaimed by the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In a Monday White House news briefing, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated that the United States was “actively enabling the removal of American citizens who wish to flee Sudan” and had “deployed U.S. surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence assets to assist with land routes for evacuation, that Americans are now using.”
According to the Associated Press, there are around 16,000 private American citizens listed with the embassy as being present in Sudan.
And who in their right mind is relieved that the Biden administration is trying help this situation? This is the same administration who planned and executed the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the results were a catastrophe.