2023-09-15 17:30:00
During the liberation operation, the ICRC, in its role as a neutral intermediary, organized the safe transfer of the children by land from Khartoum to Wad Madani. The organization’s delegates verified their health status and other issues before the trip, gave them clothing and hygiene items, and will help them reestablish contact with their families.
“The children released today must be considered, first and foremost, victims of this conflict,” said Katja Lorenz, head of the ICRC delegation in Sudan. “We are relieved that they have been released and transferred from an area of active hostilities to an environment more suitable for their situation and from where, when the time comes, they will be able to reunite with their families.”
The Ministry of Social Development will take custody of the 30 children, and the relevant ICRC teams will monitor their situation and work to reestablish contact with their families.
As fighting in Sudan continues, more than 150,000 Sudanese refugees are now in Adré, on the border between Chad and Sudan’s western Darfur region. The majority are women and children who escaped the extreme violence that has been destroying their homes and villages since April.
Thousands of families have been separated, and ICRC teams on the ground, together with the Chadian Red Cross, have helped Sudanese refugees make hundreds of phone calls to their loved ones. There are around 560 refugees who have regained contact with their families.
ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric spoke with Sudanese refugees and local authorities in Adré.
“We are trying to ensure that they can at least communicate with their loved ones. Their main concern is knowing where their relatives are. But, in addition, they need to be able to survive,” said Spoljaric. “Without additional resources, these communities will not be able to withstand the pressure of more people arriving who do not have anything to eat.”
Together with the Sudanese Red Crescent, the ICRC has provided essential relief and assistance to thousands of displaced people since the start of the armed conflict in Sudan in mid-April. Given the limited resources and growing needs in eastern Chad and Sudan, the ICRC is appealing to its donors for additional funds to help people in need.
About the ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate established in the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people affected by armed conflicts and other situations of violence around the world, doing everything possible to protect their lives and dignity, and to alleviate their suffering, often together with their Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
Media Contacts:
Alyona Synenko, CICR Nairobi, phone: +254 716 897 265, [email protected]
Names Trabelsi, ICRC Lebanon, tel. +961 313 83 53, [email protected]
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