Since the onset of the fighting on February 6, MSF has been supporting in the provision of care for the injured in Las Anod in Sool region, and has also scaled up its humanitarian response in Toghdeer region with support to Burao hospital, to provide medical care for all people in need.

SCRIPT :

00:13 – 00:21
So MSF has been in Las Anod since 2019 and we’re running the hospital with maternity and support to the emergency room. And it’s been very tense in Somaliland overall political situation. So we we were prepared for also in the E.R. to treat wounded if necessary. And then on the 6th of February, heavy fighting broke out in and around the town.

00:21 – 00:39
And it’s very difficult to know what exactly is going on. The only thing that we really clearly know and what we see is that a lot of people are coming to the hospital with gunshot wounds, people that have issues that were wounded by by explosions. So we see a lot of people coming to the hospitals. And at the same time, the hospital is in the middle of this fighting.

00:40 – 00:57
So also, the hospital has been hit several times. The blood bank was destroyed last week, which is, of course, an essential medication to have when you work in in trauma. So we are in the middle of this fighting. And what we see is that every day wounded are coming in, the beds are getting full, supplies are getting low.

01:12– 01:32
So it’s extremely difficult to work in these circumstances. And normally it’s already difficult to deal with wounded. But if you don’t know if you’re safe or if you don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s even it’s even worse. So, you know, our teams, they tell us that they’re scared. They don’t know where to hide in the hospital. The hospital is not built for violence.

It’s not built for possible explosions because it doesn’t have to be because it should be a safe space. So, yeah, it’s extremely difficult situation to be in the midst of all this fighting, but we are very much committed as MSF to continue our activities and treat all the wounded no matter where they come from to the hospital.

01:32 – 01:39
And at the same time, we can only do so if we’re safe. So it’s extremely important that everybody involved, everybody that is part of this fighting, that they know where we are, that they know that we are independent, that they know we are a neutral organization and thereby can do our work in a in a safe and protected manner.

01:02 - 01:52
The secondary impact of the fighting, which in this case means people move- A lot of women and children have moved out of town and thereby no longer have access to their basic, basic living in basic, basic services. So what you expect is that safe deliveries, access to food, access to water, shelter, a new location; So the conflict always creates the secondary wave of needs, which is a huge challenge to be able to address that.

01:52 – END
So we hope other organizations will come. It's not only medical, it links to livelihood, to food, to being safe there. So yes, coordination is extremely important. Scaling up of other actors is important. And again, that links to can everybody do that in a safe way? and is access granted by the different authorities from all sides to access the most, the most in need?