Members of state parliament released

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Press release No. 05/48

Members of state parliament released

Sept 7, 2005 (Geneva/Khartoum) — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today facilitated the release and return of three persons held by the Eastern Front opposition group.

The three are all members of the Red Sea state legislative council in eastern Sudan who had been abducted near Kassala on 23 May last by the Eastern Front, which subsequently approached the ICRC with a view to their release and return.

Acting as a neutral intermediary and after talking privately with each of the three, the ICRC today flew them from Asmara to Port Sudan, where they were formally handed over to the Sudanese authorities in the presence of their families. The ICRC continues its confidential dialogue with the Eastern Front on the whereabouts, status and condition of other persons currently held by the group.

The ICRC has since 1978 been helping people affected by the consequences of armed conflict in Sudan. Last July the organization also fulfilled its role as a neutral intermediary when it facilitated the release of some 300 persons previously detained by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army in southern Sudan. Sudan is currently the scene of the ICRC’s largest operation worldwide.

For further information, please contact:

Paul Conneally, ICRC Khartoum, tel. +249 9121 70576 or +249 1 83 476 464/65/66

Lorena Brander, ICRC Khartoum, tel. +249 9 121 37 764 or + 249 1 83 476 464

Annick Bouvier, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 24 58 or +41 79 217 32 24